Soon after the veterans ended their hunger strike following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarification that those seeking early retirement too would benefit from the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme, Maj. Gen. (retd.) Satbir Singh, who has been leading the agitation, said: “We’ve ended our fast but if the government does not fulfil its promise we are going to be back.”
Happy that a 40-year-old demand had been conceded, Maj. Gen. Singh said Sept. 5 was a “historic day.”
Revision every 5 years unacceptable, say veterans
The veterans who ended their indefinite fast at Jantar Mantar here on Sunday, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarification on who all were eligible for the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme, said the relay hunger strike would continue till all their demands were met. They also announced their plan to hold a “mega rally” on September 12.
The ex-servicemen listed four points of disagreement with the current plan and appealed to the government to resolve them. These include equalisation of pension every year and not every five years, 2013-2014 as the base year for salary calculation which means March 31, 2014, opposition to the setting up of a one-member judicial commission and taking the highest pension scale of 2013 as base for calculation and not the average as announced by the government.
Maj. Gen. (retd.) Satbir Singh, who has been leading the agitation, said that if the government wanted to discuss the issues with the veterans, they could agree for a relaxation of two years instead of the annual revision. But “five years is unacceptable.”
While representatives of the movement asked the government to accept their demands, several veterans at Jantar Mantar expressed satisfaction with the announcement and said a compromise should now be reached.
The OROP scheme is expected to benefit over three million veterans and widows along with their families.
