Protesting army veterans reject Centre’s formula on OROP
PM also held a meeting with defence minister and other senior Cabinet colleagues
New Delhi: Despite representatives of ex-servicemen rejecting any watering down of the one-rank-one-pension (OROP) proposals, they reportedly attended meetings at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Wednesday following which they appeared confident that the government would find a way of implementing OROP without any dilution.
While speculation was rife earlier that the government is considering rolling out a diluted version of OROP which may be announced by Thursday evening — just hours before the 1965 war 50th anniversary events start on Friday morning — the government could also consider delaying the announcement which may take a few days so that all ex-servicemen are satisfied with the final decision.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held a meeting with defence minister Manohar Parrikar and other senior Cabinet colleagues on Wednesday during which the OROP issue is understood to have come up for discussion.
The representatives of the ex-servicemen had met Army Chief Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag on Tuesday evening, in what was seen as an attempt by the government to achieve a breakthrough, but the meeting ended in a deadlock, with the veterans opposing any move to dilute the OROP proposals.
Certain “alternative” proposals were said to have been presented to the ex-servicemen for their consent, but these were reportedly rejected outright by the veterans.
Protesting ex-servicemen have rejected the government’s formula, saying an attempt was being made to “short-change” them.