Veterans accuse govt of trying to create divide over OROP

'I have heard that the government is willing to enforce One Rank One Pension, but it will not be applicable to officers. This will never be accepted,' says a retired soldier.

There is no letting up in the morale of retired soldiers, who are holding a relay hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. The agitation demanding the implementation of One Rank One Pension entered Day 10 on Thursday.

Sixty-seven retired soldiers from Tarn Taran in Punjab and Haryana’s Hissar district participated in the relay hunger strike. Fiery speeches were delivered and the protesting veterans sang songs like Saathi Haath Badana, as they stuck to their stand of not backing down till a final date of implementation of the OROP scheme was announced.

Also read: What is One Rank, One Pension?

On completion of one year in office last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that his government was committed to OROP.       

Unhappy that the Modi sarkar has not delivered on its promise, a retired soldier said, “I have heard that the government is willing to enforce OROP, but it will not be applicable to officers. This will never be accepted,” he said furiously.

Major General Satbir Singh (retired) confirmed that he has read in in a newspaper that the government was trying to implement OROP only for the “other ranks”.

“This divisive policy of the government will not work,” Major General Singh added.

Ram Kumar, a retired Indian Air Force veteran and the general secretary of the National Ex-Servicemen Co-ordination Committee, informed that they were drafting fresh letters of appeals to the president and the prime minister.

He added that they were receiving a tremendous response from various retired soldiers’ associations across the country expressing solidarity with the Jantar Mantar relay hunger strike. “Many more groups are expected to join the strike. This will become bigger and bigger with each passing day,” he said.

All soldiers who retired before 2006 currently receive less pension than their counterparts and even their juniors. There has been a demand from ex-servicemen to implement the scheme as soon as possible as promised by the government.