In an effort to give a Holi gift to ex-servicemen, the government has already paid dues under the One Rank Pension (OROP) to more than 13 lakh till last week and the remaining seven lakh will be covered in the next few days, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said here on Monday.
Announcing this here, he said the payments under the OROP to 13 lakh veterans amounted to Rs 2,293 crore and it was released through State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Defence Pension Disbursing Offices(DPDO).
The OROP implementation decision was taken in September last year and notification for disbursement was issued in November. As on March 17, the DPDOs have released an amount of about Rs. 606 crore to about 3.20 lakh defence personnel while the SBI as released Rs. 1,337 crore to 7.75 lakh pensioners which includes Family Pension cases.
The PNB has released as on March 17, an amount of about Rs. 350 crore to about 2.07 lakh pensioners which includes Family Pension cases, he said.