Punjab’s former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking if his Government can provide `1 lakh crore special package to Jammu and Kashmir, what prevented it from sparing `9,100 crore for one rank one pension (OROP) for the ex-servicemen. He regretted that the “long and unexplained delay” in granting OROP to the ex-servicemen by the NDA Government, despite the previous UPA regime “already having approved it”.
Reminding the Prime Minister of the promises he made to ex-servicemen over the issue during poll campaign, Capt Amarinder said, “Now more than a year has passed since you formed Government and the matter is perpetually and deliberately being delayed. This delay amounts to virtual denial.” He wondered whether an amount of `9,100 crores really matter for a country like India and that too when it was meant for our retired defence personnel.