Govt has made 'substantial' progress on OROP, veterans must enter negotiations: Admiral Prakash

Hyderabad: Former Navy Chief Arun Prakash on Thursday disapproved of military veterans’ protest move to return and burn medals against “diluted” OROP scheme, and favoured other avenues like negotiating with government to push their demands or going to court. [caption id=“attachment_2415898” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] “I am not familiar with the complete details of government notification about OROP (One Rank, One Pension). But it seems that substantial progress has been made towards satisfying the demands of the veterans,” he said. “So I think the time now is for veterans to get down to the negotiating table and discuss with the government whatever the demands have not been satisfied,” Admiral Prakash told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar at College of Defence Management here. Apart from that, he said, there are other avenues of pushing these demands like going to the court or appealing to the government to review the areas which need further adjustment. “But my personal opinion is (attempt of) burning of medals is something not called for. Because medals is an honour bestowed on an individual and medals are to be cherished and preserved and they are not meant for either burning or putting down on road or surrendering to anybody,” Admiral Prakash said. “A soldier’s medals are his most precious possession. So, I think we need to rethink this strategy of surrendering or burning medals for this kind of a cause,” he added. PTI