JKNPP holds protest in Jammu in favour of OROP demand

Jammu: On Friday, Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party held a protest in favour of the ex-servicemen's demand for implementation of 'One Rank One Pension' (OROP).

Leb by JKNPP Chairman Harsh Dev Singh the party workers staged a demonstration in Jammu for immediate implementation of OROP.

"The NDA-led government has let down our ex soldiers who sacrificed their life in the service of the nation," Harsh Dev Singh said. Singh said that in 2011 Koshyari committee report on OROP "implies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed Forces Personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service irrespective of their date of retirement."

"It (the Koshyari committee report) also said any hike in the pension rate be automatically passed on to the past pensioners so as to remove pension anomaly between the current and the past pensioners," he said.

He said that during the 2014 General Elections OROP was an integral part of the BJP's manifesto and Narendra Modi, the BJP prime ministerial candidate, had made repeated commitments for its implementation if voted to power.

"After becoming PM Modi visited Siachin on the Diwali eve in 2014. He told the soldiers that it was his destiny that OROP had been fulfilled. It was followed by his radio address in May 2015 in which he asked the ex-servicemen to remain patient for an effective implementation of OROP," he said.

Singh accused that ex-servicemen protesting at Jantar Mantar for OROP were manhandled by the police on August 14.

"The incident was most barbaric, undemocratic and shameful event in the history of Independent India," he said.

He accused Home Minister Rajnath Singh of allegedly giving orders to Delhi Police to evict the ex-servicemen, their families and war widows from the protest site.

The police then came down heavily on the protesters without any advance warning, he accused.

"Moreover, several veterans in their 80s were pushed around, dragged, humiliated and baton-charged. Besides, their tents and other equipments were forcibly removed," he said.

Singh said it was the country's moral duty to pay back the soldiers who gave their lives and youth for the service of the nation without caring for their own welfare.