Mounting pressure on the government for the early implementation of the One-Rank, One-Pension (OROP) scheme, ex-servicemen on Saturday demanded announcement of a date for its execution, failing which they would go on relay hunger strikes across the country.
A group of members of the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement, led by its chairman, Major-General (Retd) Satbir Singh, met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at his residence and conveyed their concerns and sought the announcement of the date. “We want a date as to when this [OROP] will be implemented. If we don’t get a specific date, we will start an agitation on June 14; from June 15, we will go on a hunger strike,” Mr. Singh said after the meeting.
Definition of OROP“We met him and requested him to use his good offices to convey to the government that there is no multiple definition of OROP as being said by various people from the government,” Mr. Singh said.
Calling the meeting “inconclusive,” he said they would meet the Minister again on the issue.
The organisation, which held a conclave earlier in the day, demanded two clarifications from the government: a firm date on implementation and adherence to the accepted definition of the OROP.
‘Have faith in Modi’Meanwhile, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP, who has been working on the issue of OROP for several years, asked the veterans to have “confidence in the Narendra Modi government”, and added: “To doubters, I say that I will stake my political career on this.”
