Even as the Centre's reiterates its stand that One Rank One Pension scheme for retired defence personnel will be implemented as soon as the technical difficulties are resolved, one more ex-serviceman has joined two other veterans on fast-unto-death at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to demand the immediate implementation of the proposal. Two former defence personnel 63-year-old Colonel (retired) Pushpinder Singh of the 3 Grenadiers and Havilder Major Singh (retired) of 3 Sikh Light Infantry launched the fast-unto-death on Monday.
The over 2.5 million strong ex-servicemen and war widows community has been demanding One Rank One Pension for almost four decades now and they were hugely disappointed after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh failed to announce the scheme's implementation during his Independence Day speech.
The protesting ex-servicemen and war widows have decided to boycott all the government programmes including the 50th anniversary of 1965 war with Pakistan, which the government is planning to celebrate on August 28.
"We will boycott all the government programmes including 50th anniversary of 1965 war. This is the 64th day of our protest but government is not listening us," Major General Satbir Singh (retired), Chairman of Indian Ex-servicemen Movement said.
The tightly knit community of veterans has also decided to hoist black flags at their houses.
Ten former defence chiefs also shot off a letter to Prime Minister Modi over the police action on those protesting for OROP implementation, urging him to order a probe into the treatment meted out to veterans, who were allegedly manhandled by Delhi Police officials. They also urged the Prime Minister to resolve the issue at the earliest.
Terming the stand of the government as arrogant, former Navy chief Admiral L Ramdas accused the government of giving "very bad treatment to the defence forces". Pointing that all ex-servicemen were expecting something from the Prime Minister during his speech from Red Fort on August 15, Admiral L Ramdas said that the BJP did not fulfil promise made during 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
However, these developments failed to break any ice with the government as Union Minister and former Army Chief General (retired) VK Singh reiterated the Centre's position, saying OROP would be implemented as soon as the technical difficulties were resolved.
While it was being speculated that Modi might make an announcement on OROP in his speech on Independence Day, he did not give a specific timeline for the implementation of the scheme. He stressed that talks were in final stages to work out the nitty-gritty and reiterated that the government has in-principle accepted the demand for OROP.
Reacting sharply to the PM's Independence Day speech, the protesting ex-servicemen said that the OROP had already been accepted in principle in the past. "I am sorry, it was accepted in principle 17 months ago and he has also accepted it. I want to ask the Prime Minister, what is holding the implementation of OROP," Major General Satbir Singh (Retd), questioned.
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