New Delhi, Aug 31 (PTI) The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) on Wednesday decided to offer pension to current and former employees who are not covered under the DTC Pension Scheme 1992.

The moved is expected to benefit nearly 12,000 existing and former employees of the corporation.

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The DTC pension scheme was sanctioned by the central government's Ministry of Surface Transport on November 23, 1992 for the benefit of employees of the corporation on the same pattern as for the central government employees, an official statement said.

During the implementation of the scheme in 1992, all DTC employees were provided an option to opt-in or stay out of the pension scheme, it said.

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After the successive modifications to the scheme, there was recurring demand of non-opted employees to be now covered under the DTC scheme. In 2018, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot took cognisance of the matter and a committee of officers from DTC, union representatives and transport department was constituted to probe the matter, the statement said.

The committee suggested an additional financial implication of Rs 26.50 crore per month for about 12,000 retired non-pension-opted employees, it said.

At its board meeting held earlier in the day, the DTC board approved the pension scheme for employees/ex-employees of DTC who were on roll from August 1981 to November 1992 and did not opt for the DTC Pension Scheme of 1992, the statement said.

In another decision, the DTC board also approved extending the benefits of the existing Specialised Medical Scheme of DTC employees to all retired employees (pensioners/non-pensioners) as well as their eligible dependents, family members and dependents of deceased regular employees of DTC, it said.

This is expected to benefit 30,000 retired employees of the DTC. The Specialised Medical Scheme of the DTC currently covers only its existing serving employees while the retired employees who are pensioners are paid a fixed medical allowance of Rs 500 per month which was increased to Rs 1000 per month in August last year, the statement said.

The medical scheme for existing DTC employees covers the cost of the medical treatment including medicines and inpatient department (IPD)/outpatient department (OPD) for the individual and his family. The DTC reimburses the amount to the covered serving employee on submission of the claim as per the rate list of central government health scheme (CGHS) and rates of government hospitals. With all retired employees being covered under the scheme, the fixed medical allowance will cease to exist, it said.

The two proposals now accepted by the DTC board will be sent to the Delhi government for final approval and implementation, the statement said.

"Today's resolutions are historical in a sense that these have been recurring demands of existing and retired employees of DTC for decades. I am very happy that ex-employees of DTC will receive benefits of pension and medical coverage with today's decisions," Gahlot said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)