Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today announced that Class-III pensioners would receive 30 per cent and Class-I and Class-II pensioners 15 per cent of their pension arrears in October this year.Addressing the Himachal Pradesh Pensioners’ Joint Front here today, the Chief Minister said pensioners who retired between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2022, would get their pending arrears. A notification regarding the grant of pension arrears was issued by the Finance Department later.“I am aware of the issues being faced by pensioners and employees and earnest efforts are being made to resolve them. The state government is also considering releasing another instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) soon,” he added.Sukhu said directions had been issued to all departments to clear pending medical reimbursement claims of pensioners. He added that the arrears of all pensioners above 65 years of age had already been cleared by the government.The Chief Minister said that pensioners had played an important role in the development of the state and the government had restored the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for its employees without any political motive.The Chief Minister said that when the Congress government assumed office, the previous BJP government had left a debt burden of Rs 76,000 crore in addition to liabilities of around Rs 10,000 crore towards employees and pensioners. He said that Himachal Pradesh had been receiving Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) since 1952, but the 16th Finance Commission had discontinued this 77-year-old entitlement.“The RDG was not merely an entitlement of the state government but a right of the people of Himachal Pradesh. Imagine what would happen if Rs 40,000 were deducted from an annual income of Rs one lakh. This is the situation being faced by Himachal Pradesh. The state is losing Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 crore every year,” he said.The Chief Minister said that the previous BJP government had received Rs 54,000 crore as RDG and Rs 16,000 crore as GST compensation and had they maintained financial discipline, the state’s debt could have been reduced by around Rs 30,000 crore. The Congress government had received Rs 17,000 crore as RDG during the last three years, he added.President of the Himachal Pradesh Pensioners’ Joint Front, Atma Ram Sharma, said the state government had taken several steps in the interest of pensioners. Office-bearers of the pensioners’ body and a large number of pensioners were present at the meeting.