Be patient on OROP: Modi to seething ex-servicemen

New Delhi  Jun 01 2015 :    PM Narendra Modi on Sun day again tr ied to douse the fast-erupting anger among ex-   servicemen over the con tinuing delay in implementing the much promised one rank one pension (OROP), asking them for “some more time“ to resolve the complex issue. But the seething ex-servicemen, some of whom have begun to boycott government functions and plan a major rally in New Delhi on June 14, see “bureaucratic machinations“ at play once again to delay OROP on the pretext that it is yet to be defined properly. “The PM has been wrongly briefed. There is only one definition, only one implication and only one calculation.The attempt is to further delay, dilute and finally deny full OROP,“ said Major-Gen (retd) Satbir Singh, chairman of the Indian Ex-Servicemen  Movement. Modi, however, counselled patience to the veterans, who constitute a vocal 25 lakh strong community . “You have been patient for 40 years. Give me some time to address it.This is a complex, vexed issue... We will together find a solution,“ the PM said in his monthly `Mann Ki Baat' on All India Radio on Sunday . Attacking previous governments for taking the armed forces for a ride by keeping OROP “hanging for the last 40 years“, the PM said various departments were at work to resolve the matter at the earliest. “I have made a promise in the midst of ex- servicemen that my government will implement OROP. We do not shun our responsibility, “ he said. But the proof of the pudding will lie in the eating for the ex-servicemen. Political parties have all promised OROP ­ payment of uniform pension to personnel  retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their retirement date ­ but failed to deliver once they came to office. “It was to first come on Dec 31,  then January 31, then with the budget on February 28, and then at the PM's Mathura rally on May 25... But the wait has become endless.  Now, we hear even its definition is yet to be finalised.The definition was settled long  ago, and even adopted by Parliament (Rajya Sabha committee on petitions,  chaired by Bhagat Singh Koshyari, in December 2011),“ said Maj-Gen Singh. (Source- TOI)