OROP stir: Now, military veterans to return medals in protest

New Delhi: Armed forces veterans staging a protest in New Delhi to press their demand for ‘One Rank, One Pension’ (OROP) scheme on Friday announced that they will return their medals across the country on 9-10 November. “We have unanimously decided to return our medals across India,” said Group Captain VK Gandhi, the general secretary of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement. [caption id=“attachment_2497858” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Firstpost[/caption] On 145th day of the protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and across the country, the armed forces veterans also decided to escalate, upgrade and intensify their agitation. “The government is willing to provide us an OROP, which is full of discrepancies and is not as per its definition. To protest, all ex-servicemen with their medals will line up in discipline and dignified manner in each district across the nation on 9-10 November,” Gandhi told reporters in New Delhi. “The district magistrate will collect the medals and if he doesn’t come to collect it, the medals will be left behind. The DMs will be requested to guard their medals. We would request them to send these medals either to Prime Minister Narendra Modi or to President Pranab Mukherjee,” he added. The agitation of armed forces veterans continued even after the central government announced the OROP scheme on 5 September. The veterans have said what government announced is not OROP, but ‘One Rank, Five Pension’. IANS