Photo : Collected
The uncertainty created about the universal pension scheme after the fall of the Awami League government in the face of the movement, has now completely disappeared. After receiving the positive message of the interim government, customer confidence has started returning to this scheme discussed by the previous government to ensure social security.
According to Universal Pension Authority sources, the previous Awami League government launched this pension scheme very vigorously. The goal was set to bring financial security to all sections of the society. The Awami League government launched the universal pension scheme on August 17 last year after long preparations as per the election manifesto.
Initially, the 'Prabas', 'Pragati', 'Surakkha' and 'Samata' schemes were introduced. Last July, the authorities faced a setback when they launched the 'Prattay' scheme for government and autonomous institutions. The package could not be launched in the face of opposition from the stakeholders. Since then various complications have arisen with this scheme. The kind of enthusiasm that people had in the beginning, started to decrease. One party also started a movement to opt out of the scheme.
Later, when the Awami League government collapsed on August 5, the participants became worried about the future of this scheme. In the last two months, not much money has been deposited in this scheme. But now the scheme has become active again after a positive attitude from the interim government.
A member of the pension authority, who did not want to be named, said, “After the fall of the government, the amount of contribution of the members has gone down completely. We ourselves were in a state of uncertainty. Those who did not contribute due to uncertainty have already started paying two months together. We don't see it as a problem.”
It is known that even in the last month of June, as many as 5,000 new people were joining the pension scheme every day. After the movement started in July, it started to decline. New enrollments fell drastically for about a month after the government fell in August. But that is no longer the case. Now the number of new people joining has started increasing.
In this regard, Golam Mustafa, Member (Fund Management) of National Pension Authority, told The Daily Messenger, “After August 5, many people thought that whether this scheme exists or not, I will not pay any more money. Because of this some defaulting cases happened. But when we went back and said, the new government will run this program, the lack of confidence of the customers disappeared.”
He further said, “It is part of the social security programme. There is always a need for social security programs in our country. So this program will never be irrelevant. The National Pension Scheme is a statutory body established under the Act. It is a state program. So it will not stand still at all.”
Messenger/Disha
