Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal on Saturday hailed the decision of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant One Rank One Pension (OROP) and thereby meeting almost half-a-century-old demand of lakhs of the defence veterans and ex-servicemen across the country.
The CM said there was never an iota of doubt in his mind about the fulfillment of the promise made by the Prime Minister at the beginning of his election campaign at Rewari. He said that the announcement of OROP has sent a wave of joy in Haryana which is home to lakhs of ex-service men and officers.
He said it was a big moment in the task of nation building since the non resolution of the issue by previous Governments had been detrimental to the morale of families of men who had so ably devoted their lives to securing the country’s defence, he said.
Referring to the highlights of the announcement made by the Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, the Chief Minister said that OROP would be implemented from July 1, 2014. While the previous government had allocated Rs 500 crore for the scheme, its liberal implementation would cost `8,000 to `10,000 crore. It is a uniform pension for the Defence personnel who retire in the same rank irrespective of when they do so. While the arrears will be paid in four half-yearly instalments widows will get these at one go.
Manohar lal said that the Haryana Government was equally concerned about the welfare of ex-servicemen and the kin of martyrs.
“We have increased the ex-gratia amount of defence personnel. Now, a family of martyr would get ex-gratia of `20 lakh against `2.5 lakh earlier. A sum of `20 lakh is now given to the families of martyrs falling victims to bomb blasts against `2 lakh”, he added.
Also, the ex-gratia of `20 lakh is given to the families of martyrs who got killed during the operations by the United Nations Peace Keeping Force. Compensation for disability too has been increased to `5 lakh, `10 lakh and `15 lakh depending upon the degree of disability from `50,000, `75,000 and `1
lakh. Construction work is in progress on 264 type ‘A’ flats in Panchkula and 544
EWS flats in Sirsa for the personnel of Army and paramilitary forces, the Chief Minister said.