OROP: Organisations representing ex-servicemen begin relay hunger strike in 50 cities

NEW DELHI: Organisations representing ex-servicemen began a relay hunger strike on Monday to press for implementation of ‘One Rank One Pension’ (OROP) scheme, which is expected to benefit nearly 25 lakh retired defence personnel and their families.

The strike began a day after the organisations held a nationwide protest over the government’s continued ambiguity over implementing the scheme even as it has voiced its commitment to the principle time and again. The relay hunger strike began across 50 cities including Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Bhopal, Nagpur, Meerut, Mysore, Varanasi, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram, Agra and Jammu, along with the metros and capital cities, among others.

Defence personnel signed their names in blood on paper, lending their support to the memorandum to the President prepared by the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement, one of the organisations spearheading the protests. Responding to the mounting pressure, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar sought to provide an assurance to the retired personnel. “Whatever we have promised would be done but people need to be patient,” Parrikar said in Jaipur. The OROP scheme envisions equal pension for persons retiring with the same rank and length of service irrespective of their date of retirement.

Lt Colonel SS Sodhi (retd), president of Ex-Servicemen Grievance Cell, Mohali said, “A majority of demonstrators participating in the round-the-clock hunger strike in Delhi today are mostly ex-servicemen from Jalandhar. Every few days there will be volunteers from different states and regions.”