One Rank One Pension: Ex-servicemen to boycott Parrikar's visit to Mohali

MOHALI: A group of ex-servicemen today announced that they will "boycott" Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's proposed visit here later this month and show him "black flags" in protest against the delay in implementation of "One Rank One Pension" by the Centre.

United Front of Ex-Servicemen (UFESM) held a rally here to show solidarity with the fellow ex-servicemen, who have also been holding relay hunger-strike in various cities.

At the end of the rally, the veterans unanimously resolved to boycott the Defence Minister's visit and show him black flags on July 25 when he is scheduled to inaugurate here the ' Mai Bhago Institute' for training of girls to join the Defence Services.

They also sought issuance of notification for "One Rank One Pension" (OROP) and demanded time-boud implementation of their long-pending demand.

"We defeated Pakistan, captured 93,000 prisoners and created a separate country ( Bangladesh) in 13 days flat, but the Narendra Modi Government could not issue notification for implementation of 'already approved' OROP scheme, despite being in power for over 14 months," said veteran Brigadier Harwant Singh (Retd).

It is was highlighted that the draft government letter for implantation of OROP was prepared in April 2014, but was still lying as a 'draft' only, he said.

The Defence Minister, BJP president ( Amit Shah) and other party functionaries have just mouthed platitudes of implementing OROP "soon", but no one has given a firm date, he said adding we wonder when that "soon" would arrive.