Veterans hold protest against OROP anomalies

New Delhi: Thousands of army veterans who held a rally in New Delhi on Saturday unanimously rejected the ‘One Rank One Pension’ (OROP) scheme approved by the government and threatened to intensify their agitation if the scheme’s anomalies were not sorted out.

“We have decided to continue the relay fast. If the government does not remove the anomalies in the scheme, we will intensify the protest,” United Front of Ex-servicemen spokesperson Col. Anil Kaul (retd) said.

He clarified that no new demands were being made by the veterans, unlike what was being suggested in some quarters.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the expenditure for implementing the OROP will be just 2.2 per cent more than the allocated budget for the defence ministry.

The ex-servicemen’s group organising the rally claimed that about 50,000 army veterans from across the country participated in the rally.

Kaul said at least 200 buses carrying veterans to the rally were stopped at the border of Delhi and thousands more were stopped from participating.

He said all hindrances were being created by bureaucrats. “I wonder how much money they wanted to save by excluding premature retirements,” he said.

Families of the veterans also joined the protests saying that the OROP scheme announced by the government was misleading.

“I have come here from Lucknow to protest against the government’s offer. It is misleading. The scheme does not meet our demands completely,” Laxmi Singh, a family member of an ex-servicemen, told IANS.

“The government cannot ignore us. We have been on hunger strike since 90 days now. They will have to implement OROP the way we want,” said Surinder Singh, an ex-serviceman.

Parrikar said the OROP would not be “very heavy” for his ministry.

“A lot of people said OROP budget is going to be very heavy. I can tell you that total defence outlay was Rs3.29 lakh crore [Rs329 trillion]. So it only forms about 2.2 per cent additionally in defence outlay,” Parrikar said at a seminar organised by industry chamber Ficci.

The minister said the cost can be recovered by using “innovative methods” and removing middlemen.

“And if I can, I promise also, I can bring that amount by saving the wastage or lowering cost by various other innovative ideas and by really preventing the middlemen from making money,” he added.

Later, responding to a question on the ongoing veterans’ agitation, he said: “It is a democratic right [to protest], you cannot take it away.”

Parrikar also reminded that it was the NDA government which had implemented the scheme after 42 years.