PATIALA: Ex-servicemen from across Punjab will hold a rally here on February 21 in protest against the alleged anomalies in the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme approved by central government.
BHARAT BHUSHAN/HTState Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association (SEWA) president Colonel Kuldip Singh Grewal (retd) addressing a press conference in Patiala on Sunday.Col Kuldip Singh Grewal (retd), president, State Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association (SEWA), said more than 4,000 people would join the protest as majority of ex-servicemen were dismayed at the circular issued by the office of principal controller of defence accounts (PCDA) based on the Centre’s notification.
“The PCDA has incorporated new clauses which are nowhere in the circular. The pension as given in the circular issued by the PCDA is based on the actual qualifying service, thus doing away with the weightage as granted earlier,” he added.
“Officers and other ranks in the armed forces retire early without completing the 33 years of service. Nearly 98% of them retire aged between 37 and 54. The batch of pre-1996 retiree officers up to the rank of colonel retired at the age of 52 years. Thereafter, the retirement age was increased by two years. This was the reason that weighage was given for each to make them eligible for full pension. The PCDA has arbitrarily done away this clause,” he added.
“The widows of soldiers who were released on medical grounds get a meager ` 3,500 monthly pension,” he said.
He said they will also raise the demand for pending facilities to the widows of 1962 and 1965 war martyrs in Punjab. He said it was an irony that the government is intentionally delaying the matter as with the passage of time several widows will be no more.
