OROP: Ex-servicemen take out protest march to Rashtrapati Bhavan

“This is adding insult to the injury”, he remarked.In a letter to the Defence Minister, Capt Amarinder referred to his recent statements where he had bluntly said “no more concessions on OROP” and “the behaviour of ex-servicemen protesting the notification on the OROP scheme is unlike that of a soldier”. He will be felicitated at Jantar Mantar.

The agitation of armed forces veterans over the one rank, one pay (OROP) issue is clearly far from over, with general secretary of the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement, Group Captain V K Gandhi, today terming the protest against the scheme announced by the government as “a volcano getting ready to erupt”.

The defence veterans additionally held a protest march to the President’s House over the OROP situation, however have been stopped by the Delhi Police at Rail Bhavan.

Amid slogans towards the federal government, the 2 veterans, who had additionally sat on a starvation strike, tried to burn their medals earlier than the digital camera glare. OROP is a scheme that will ensure uniform pension payments to ex-servicemen who have served at the same rank and for the same amount of time, regardless of the year they retired, among other measures. “Why did they put conditions?”

The new scheme additionally says it is going to be reviewed as soon as in 5 years and never yearly.

“A section insisting on returning the medals because one is not happy with certain clauses of OROP, for which the government is paying over Rs 8,000 crore, is demeaning the medal itself”, Parrikar had said. “It was promised but not delivered, but our government delivered it. If there’s any issue left, the committee will look into it and resolve it. Our request is they should give the government a chance”.