As frustration grows among retired military personnel over their demands of One Rank One Pension (OROP) not being met, Defence Minister Manohar Parriker on Thursday said, “there will be good news soon.”
Defence Minister Manohar Parriker was scheduled to meet some of the ex-servicemen on Tuesday but he did not do so, making some of the retired army staff ‘extremely angry’.
“Neither has Parriker met us yesterday nor does he have plans of meeting us today (Wednesday). We will continue to hold our agitation until our demands are not met. Only, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is responsible for this. Not the Defence Minister. I cannot hold any other person responsible. We gave our support to him (Modi) last year on the basis of an assurance that he will implement the OROP scheme,” said Major General Satbir (retired) yesterday, while speaking exclusively to Jantakareporter.com.
PM Narendra Modi had also assured the ex-servicemen in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio talk that the OROP issue would be resolved.
Before on Wednesday, noted civil rights activist and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare had come out in support of OROP and in a letter to the PM, had warned of a nationwide agitation if the demands were not met.
“We welcome Anna Hazare’s move of support to the OROP scheme. Along with a letter to the PM, he has also a written a letter to us. He is an ex-serviceman just like us and we respect what he is doing for the country and what he has done before along with the likes of Arvind Kejriwal,” said Maj General Satbir.
As per the current law, pensioners who retired before 2006 draw less pension than their counterparts and even their juniors. Under OROP, someone who retired in 1996 will get the same pension as someone who retired in 2006.
