Ex-servicemen, Parrikar talks on OROP fail, former soldiers to go ahead with stir

New Delhi: The talks between ex-servicemen and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar over the One Rank One Pension scheme failed today after which the retired defence personnel decided to go ahead with their planned rally on 14 June followed by a relay hunger strike to protest the long delay in implementation of the scheme.[caption id=“attachment_2267684” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. PTI[/caption] “Though Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar understood our problem and argument, he did not give any date for the implementation of the OROP and hence we are going ahead with our agitation,” Maj Gen Satbir Singh, chairman of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM) told PTI. He twice led a delegation of ex-servicemen today at meetings with Parrikar and Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag. Singh said he has complete faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hoped that the OROP will be implemented soon. The ex-servicemen group has also written a letter to Modi seeking his intervention to meet their long-pending demand. At a conclave of the retired defence personnel today, it was decided that they will call off their proposed agitation if the minister gave a deadline of 15 July for the implementation of the OROP. OROP seeks to ensure that a uniform pension is paid to the defence personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement. Close to 22 lakh ex-servicemen and over six lakh war widows stand to be the immediate beneficiaries of the scheme. Even though the government has said it is committed to implementing OROP, there has been no official clarification on why the scheme is delayed. Defence ministry sources said that the OROP file is lying with the finance ministry for a final budgetary approval. Parrikar has repeatedly said that the government has completed all formalities and OROP will be implemented soon. “Since December last, we have met Parrikar four times and every time he said it would be implemented in a week or so,” Singh said at the conclave. The Army chief, while addressing ex-servicemen on 14 March, had said that OROP would be approved latest by 30 April. PTI