A group of freedom fighters, who had gone to meet Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to urge him to hike their pension amount, returned from his residence here on Tuesday without getting a chance to meet him. Members of the Orissa Pradesh Swadhinata Sangrami Seva Sangha (OPSSSS) in a memorandum to the Chief Minister mentioned that they have been getting pension since January 1, 2002 as non-jail suffering freedom fighters. “It is too difficult on part of us to survive with such a less pension in the high rising market,” said Sangha president Duryodhan Mallick.
Mallick said, “We have suffered more than the jail-suffering freedom fighters where the latter are getting more than us. We had moved from village to village arranging meetings during the freedom movement. In spite of lathi-charge of police, we fought for the sake of the nation.” The members requested the Chief Minister to grant pension in the same scale to both categories. They also suggested Patnaik to write to the Centre for granting of pension under the Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme, 1980 to both the jail-suffering and non-suffering freedom fighters. The freedom fighters waited for some hours in front of the Naveen Nivas and then returned when Patnaik didn’t turn up.