Address loopholes in 'One Rank One Pension' scheme: PMK

CHENNAI: NDA constituent PMK today welcomed the Centre's decision to implement ' One Rank One Pension' but urged the government to take steps to remove the 'shortcomings' in it.

PMK founder S Ramadoss said it was "unfortunate" that OROP had not met all expectations of retired army personnel.

"The Government should realise that a scheme with such shortcomings would not meet the intended objective. Had they discussed the issues with retired army personnel, these kind of problems would have been addressed," he said, referring to the contentious points raised by the veterans, such as date of implementation.

"The retired army personnel have been demanding that the scheme be implemented from April last year. But the Government said it will be implemented from July 2014.

"Secondly, they have been demanding that the pension be revised every two years, but the Government said it would be revised every five years," he said.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar yesterday announced the government has decided to implement the scheme under which there would be revision of pension every five years as against two years demanded by the ex-servicemen.