The United Front of Ex-Servicemen Uttarakhand would organise a rally in the State capital on August 23 to press for their demand of ‘One Rank One Pension’ (OROP). The office bearers of the organisation organised a press conference on the issue on Thursday. The president of the organisation, Major General Chander Nandwani told mediapersons that there are many misconceptions in the society on the issue of OROP. He said that to equate other services with armed forces is wrong as unlike them where one normally retries at an age of 60 years a nearly 85 per cent of the defence personnel retries when they are in the age bracket of 35-42 years. General Nandwani said that there is generally no provision for a second career for most of the retirees in armed forces and wherever these appointments are given they are much below their dignity where salaries are too low.
The office bearers of the organisation explained that since pension is earned wages for the services rendered, it is reasonable and logical that two individuals who have rendered equal service to the nation (length of service) and have handled the same level of responsibility (rank) should be given equal pension irrespective of their date of retirement. They insisted that the demand of OROP is a demand for equity and justice and not merely for money.
The veterans expressed their strong protest over the police action on peaceful agitators at Jantar Mantar on August 14 and felt disappointment over the speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of Independence Day as they were hoping that he would declare implementation of OROP on the day.
The spokesperson of the organisation Brigadier K G Behl (Rtd) said that a massive rally would be organised in Dehradun on August 23 for the cause of OROP. He said that armed forces veterans would assemble at Parade ground on the day from where they would proceed to Survey Chowk. From this point the rally would meander through Cross road mall, Rajpur road, Clock tower and lansdowne chowk. Brig Behl (rtd) claimed that veterans from all parts of the state would participate in the rally.