NEW DELHI: The government on Saturday night formally notified the one rank one pension (OROP) scheme for the over 24 lakh ex-servicemen and six lakh war widows around the country. The scheme will entail an additional outgo of around Rs 8,000 to 10,000 crore every year.
The notification is more or less in line with what defence minister Manohar Parrikar had announced on September 5, except that the clause that exempted personnel who retire voluntarily from the scheme. There had been removed after widespread outcry among the veterans over this clause.
Instead, the government has now decided that personnel who opt for “discharge henceforth on their own request will not be entitled to the benefits of OROP”. In other words, while soldiers who took pre-mature retirement earlier will get OROP, fresh cases will not. “It will be effective prospectively,” said an official.
But the veterans said they would continue with their agitation, which has entered the 146th day now, since the government had failed to resolve “any of the seven main anomalies” in the “diluted OROP” that had been notified.
“We have been cheated by the government. We will not accept it. We will meet to decide the future course of action, including the plan to return medals medals to the district commissioners or magistrates in all the 647 districts of the country on November 9-10,” said Group Captain VK Gandhi (retd) of the United Front of Ex-Servicemen (UFESM).
The notification is more or less in line with what defence minister Manohar Parrikar had announced on September 5, except that the clause that exempted personnel who retire voluntarily from the scheme. There had been removed after widespread outcry among the veterans over this clause.
Instead, the government has now decided that personnel who opt for “discharge henceforth on their own request will not be entitled to the benefits of OROP”. In other words, while soldiers who took pre-mature retirement earlier will get OROP, fresh cases will not. “It will be effective prospectively,” said an official.
But the veterans said they would continue with their agitation, which has entered the 146th day now, since the government had failed to resolve “any of the seven main anomalies” in the “diluted OROP” that had been notified.
“We have been cheated by the government. We will not accept it. We will meet to decide the future course of action, including the plan to return medals medals to the district commissioners or magistrates in all the 647 districts of the country on November 9-10,” said Group Captain VK Gandhi (retd) of the United Front of Ex-Servicemen (UFESM).
(COURTESY:The Times of India)
