OROP has turned into 'one rank, many pensions', says Congress

New Delhi: The implementation of “one rank, one pension (OROP)” has instead become “one rank, many pensions”, the Congress today claimed, asking the Modi government to take cue from its Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s letter to the Prime Minister and fast resolve the remaining concerns. [caption id=“attachment_3072506” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] In a statement, Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said following public outrage and Gandhi’s letter, the Modi government has finally woken up from earlier web of denial to redress the all important issue of arbitrarily reducing “disability pension” for injuries suffered in combat. “A gross wrong done to our armed forces has been undone, though belatedly and after huge hue and cry,” Surjewala said, “We will only say to the Modi government - better late than never.” “We urge the Modi government to take a cue and address the remaining issues raised by Rahul Gandhi regarding the injustice meted out to our armed forces,” the Congress leader said. The implementation of OROP has become “one rank, many pensions” instead of “one rank, one pension”, he said. He said that honourable settlement of anomalies of Seventh Pay Commission and deliberate reduction of army ranks viz-a-viz their civilian counterparts continue to remain as reasons of dissatisfaction and outrage. “We urge upon PM Modiji for fast resolution of these issues on behalf of the people of India, veterans and serving men and women of the armed forces,” Surjewala said. Gandhi had earlier in the day questioned the Modi government’s resolve to work for soldiers’ welfare, asking the Prime Minister to first implement the ‘one rank, one pension’ scheme in a meaningful way and redress their pay anomalies and other grievances. Responding to the claims made by the Congress Vice President, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that he would “urge Rahul Gandhi to do his home work and not politicise armed forces’ sensitive issues for partisan gains”.