Monday, August 31, 2009

Ex-servicemen to return medals to President seeking OROP

Published: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 at 19:18 IST

New Delhi, Aug 28 Sticking to their 'One Rank-One Pension' demand, the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM) today said the armed forces' veterans will return their gallantry medals to the President on September 13.

"We will deposit our medals with the President on September 13 and continue to demand for the implementation of the OROP in totality," IESM Chairman Lieutenant General Raj Kadyan (retd) told reporters here.

"Till now, we have deposited 15,000 medals with the President in three instalments and will continue to do so in future also," Kadyan claimed.

Under the OROP demand, the ex-servicemen personnel have been seeking that personnel retiring from a same rank after having served for equal number of years should get same pension irrespective of the date and time of retirement. With the implementation of each pay commission, the gap between the pension amount increases.

IESM claimed that the government had created an impression that the OROP demand was accepted but its recent steps in this regard had just helped in equating pre-1997 and post-1997 pensioners and the difference in pensions still existed.

There are nearly 20 lakh ex-servicemen in the country.
Ex-servicemen to return medals to President seeking OROP: samaylive