CHANDIGARH: The ex-servicemen fraternity has now decided to wait and watch for the announcement of one rank one pension (OROP) — the much-awaited demand of veterans, which the finance minister did not mention in his budget speech.
The decision to wait for the announcement of OROP has been take by the veterans after holding a meeting with the defence minister on Monday afternoon. A five member delegation led by Major General Satbir Singh (Retd), Chairman, Indian Ex-servicemen Movement (IESM) had hold a meeting with the defence minister Manohar Parrikar for around 45 minutes to express the grievance of the ex-servicemen fraternity about OROP. Major DP Singh, blade runner who had lost his leg in Kargil war, also accompanied the delegation.
Talking to TOI, Major General Satbir Singh (Retd), who has been leading the campaign of several ex-servicemen organizations for implementation of OROP, said that the defence minister Manohar Parikar has confirmed him on Monday that government is committed to implement the OROP and immediately after completing the modalities with the finance ministry, it would be implemented.
"I have conveyed the defence minister that we are not fighting for money but for 'ijjat' (respect) for giving our valuable period of life for the country. Since defence minister himself had called us and promised to fulfill the demand I think we should wait for some more time," Gen Singh added.
Gen Satbir, however, made it clear that if nothing moves till March 31, the veterans would chart out plan for their massive protests across the country for the breach of trust against government.
Major DP Singh, who was also part of the delegation also confirmed that the defence minister has clarified during the meeting that there is no doubt about the allocation of money for OROP, which would be announced very soon.
The defence fraternity that was desperately waiting for the announcement of OROP in the union budget announced on February 28, was disappointed when nothing about OROP was mentioned by the finance minister in his budget speech.
Earlier the veterans were under the impression that Rs 22 thousand crore increase in the defence budget includes Rs 8300 crore required for the OROP. However, the experts of the defence accounts clarified that the increased amount of Rs 22 thousand crore is just to meet the inflation of last years budget and OROP could not be included in it.
Out of 30-lakh ex-servicemen in the country, Punjab alone has around three lakh ex-servicemen, Haryana has nearly 2.8 lakh, Himachal Pradesh (HP) has around two lakh and there are around 10000 retired ex-servicemen in UT Chandigarh.
OROP basically implies payment of uniform pension to personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service irrespective of their date of retirement.
Courtesy: The Times of India
what one rank one pension is contemplated. there is no unity in defenition .will a cpl get maximum rank pension?
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