OROP: Veterans welcome government decision, withdraw hunger strike

NEW DELHI: Welcoming the government's decision to implement OROP, agitating ex-servicemen today announced withdrawal of their hunger strike but decided to continue their protest till all the "sticky" issues are resolved.

The ex-servicemen said revision of pension after a gap of five years as announced by the government is not at all acceptable to them, besides appointment of a one-man judicial commission to examine various aspects of one rank-one pension (OROP).

Addressing a press conference here, Maj Gen (Retd) Satbir Singh, leader of the association leading the agitation, said the protest will continue till four specific points raised by the ex-servicemen are not accepted by the government.

"We urge all those who are on hunger strike to withdraw it as the PM has clarified on the issue of premature retirement. But our protest will continue till the government accepts four points raised by us," he said.

He said ex-servicemen may resume hunger strike again if the government fails to resolve the pending issues.

"We thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for fulfilling the promise of one rank-one pension. We thank the defence minister but there are four issues to be resolved including the period of equalisation of pension," Singh said.

The veterans, who have been pressing for one rank-one pension (OROP) for four decades, yesterday won a partial victory with the government announcing that it would implement it, but the veterans rejected the decision and decided to continue their agitation.

The issue of whether the scheme would cover ex-servicemen who have taken premature retirement had emerged as a major sticking point.

They met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar yesterday and later said his clarification in this regard was "satisfying".