Political parties, it seems, are engaged in a tug-of-war to pull in a huge vote bank of the Army personnel, and ex-servicemen. The latest score was made by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday by approving allotment of additional land of 1.50 acre for expansion of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI) at Mohali.
Only a day before, Congress-led UPA Government in its, Union Budget, gave nod to the long pending demand of ‘One Rank One Pension’ after almost four decades it was raised. The issue was also backed, and taken on priority by the Punjab Congress chief and Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa with the party’s top brass, and the ministers concerned. In a first move to this direction, Punjab Government only last week laid the foundation stone of Punjab State War Heroes Memorial and Museum at Amritsar in an impressive ceremony attended by who’s who of the armed forces, from past and the present.
It was followed by Congress national vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with the delegations of ex-servicemen from Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. The nod to allot additional land was given after clearing the proposal mooted by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) during a meeting with the Housing and Urban Development secretary A Venuprasad.
GMADA sought to immediately allot the land for creating additional facilities or infrastructure for cadets undergoing training at the State’s prestigious institute for recruitment as commissioned officers in the Armed Forces. It might be recalled that the GMADA had already allotted 8.44 acre land for the existing infrastructure over the AFPI in Mohali’s Sector-77.
Chief Minister also gave his nod to allot six acres land owned by GMADA for setting up Mai Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute for Girls in Sector-66 SAS Nagar (Mohali). Punjab’s Chief Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Services Welfare Virsa Singh Valtoha also claimed that the landmark function of laying the foundation stone of Punjab State War Heroes Memorial and Museum has been “watershed” in the recent times of the State.
“The function witnessed the presence of Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh, DFC, five ex-Chiefs of Army, two Ex-Naval Chiefs along with score of senior serving and retired Generals, Air Marshals and Admirals who attended the historic function,” he said adding that this “exhibited the love and affection they have towards country’s veteran politician Parkash Singh Badal”.
Valtoha claimed that former Army chiefs raised the issue of ‘One Rank One Pension’ during the event, after which Badal reassured the fraternity to take up the matter with the Centre maintaining that in case they fail to oblige, “day is not far when Narendra Modi would be heading the NDA Government at the Centre and it would then be the time when he would ensure its implementation in right earnest”.
“Realising the gravity of the situation and mass support behind the issue, Bajwa rushed to New Delhi to explain consequences of the matter to Rahul Gandhi who was forced to take up the matter with Congress High Command for implementing One Rank One Pension,” he added. Valtoha pointed that Badal had moved this agenda in Punjab Vidhan Sabha in the previous session which shows his concern and admiration for the ex-servicemen fraternity.