Not fully satisfied with OROP announcement: Ex-servicemen

Protesting ex-servicemen on Saturday said they were not "fully satisfied" with the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme announced by the government as all of their demands had not been met.

"Though we welcome the implementation of the OROP by the government, we are not fully satisfied as they have not accepted the six points demanded by the ex-servicemen," Maj. Gen. Satbir Singh (retd), who has been spearheading the campaign for OROP, told the media at Jantar Mantar shortly after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced the scheme would be implemented.

He said a decision on the furture course of their agitation would be taken later in the evening.

"The defence minister had said that personnel opting for voluntary retirement would not be given the benefit of OROP. If they do not get then it is a big blow to our defence forces as more than 40 percent of servicemen opt for premature retirement," he said.

Another bone of contention was the one-member equalization committee which is supposed to submit its report within six months.

"We had told him clearly that if you are making a committee then it should be a five-member committee which would have three ex-servicemen as members and one serving member from the defence services. The fifth member should be recommended by the central government," he said.