Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
CHANDIGARH, September 5: Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha and former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today said that the belated announcement of ‘one rank one pension’ for the ex-servicemen by the BJP led NDA government was “only half hearted and half baked attempt sans sincerity”.
He supported the reservations expressed by the ex-servicemen about the decision, saying if the government’s intentions were really sincere it should have addressed the issue reasonably while taking into consideration the long pending genuine demands of the veterans.
Capt Amarinder questioned the logic behind denying OROP to those who seek voluntary retirement. “This is the most unreasonable clause”, he remarked, while asking, “why deny someone the OROP benefit when he is already eligible for the pension?”
The former Punjab Chief Minister also supported the veterans’ demand for expanding the strength of the one man judicial commission, appointed for removing anomalies in the OROP, to five with three veterans as its members. He observed, otherwise it appears to be an attempt at delaying the matters.
