Koshiyari panel off the mark on OROP payout: Parrikar

The Rs.1,300 crore estimate prepared by the Koshiyari committee as annual payout for OROP may have thrown the finance ministry off guard while making budgetary allocation for the pension scheme for India's military personnel, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar hinted on Tuesday.

Parrikar was speaking at a function at the BJP's Goa headquarters, where he was felicitated by state party president Vinay Tendulkar and Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar for resolving the long-standing 'One Rank One Pension' (OROP) deadlock.

Parrikar also took a swipe at the "confusion" created by the Congress for the delay in the scheme's implementation.

"The Koshiari committee had calculated Rs.1,300 crore. Therefore (Finance Minister Arun) Jaitley had kept aside Rs.1,000 crore. Then we realised after calculation, that it (OROP) would incur a cost of Rs.8,000 crore annually," Parrikar said.

As the chairman of a parliamentary committee in 2011, BJP MP from Uttarakhand Bhagat Singh Koshiyari submitted a report which said the implementation of OROP would cost the exchequer Rs.1,300 crore annually.

While accepting that there was a delay in the rollout of the pension scheme by the government, Parrikar said it was devised in the "least possible time".

"(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi-ji in his pre-election meeting had made a promise on OROP. It was in our manifesto. There was delay because someone had created confusion. The Congress claims it would have implemented OROP, but they had kept aside only Rs.500 crore," Parrikar said.