From our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Cong on Wednesday criticised the Modi governent for its trechery with the Indian Armed Forces and ex-soldiers in denial of the ‘one rank, one pension” “OROP and its claim in the Supreme Courtthat its refusal was a policy decision and not the legal right.
Its chief spokesman and general secretarhy Randeep Singh Surjewala narrated how the UPA-Congress government raised the pension to the retired defence personnel three years from 2004 to 2012 and then finance minister P Chidambaram decided on February 26, 2014 to ensure that those retiring at the same time will get an equal pension, ensuring that all old pensioners get equal pension.
He said both Prime Minister Modi and then Finance Minister recalled the grant of one rank, one pension in his budget speech on July 10, 2014, but the Modi government turned it into “one rank, five pension” to the prematured retired ex-servicemen. He said as many as 46% of the ex-servicemen take premature retirement and only 1,000 out of 13 Lalh personnel of the Army reach the retirement age of 60 years while most of the soldiers and the junior commissioned officers (JCOs) retire up to the age of 40 years and 10% retire at the age of 46 and thus all of them are denied the ‘One rank, one pension.”
Surjewala reiterated that the Modi government opposed the Indian Ex-service movement’s demand for one rank, one pesnion claiming that it cannot do so because of the financial burden on the government
