The Defence Ministry on Wednesday denied allegations that ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal did not get his One-Rank-One-Pension (OROP) dues and said he was getting all the benefits of the Sixth Pay Commission as also the OROP announced last year. Ministry officials also said the deceased never sought an appointment to meet Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar as is being alleged.
However, Ministry sources said Grewal had received a lesser amount as part of the OROP scheme under the Sixth Pay Commission due to an error in calculation by the SBI branch in Bhiwani district of Haryana, a matter which was being looked into. Government sources said redressing grievances of former soldiers over anomalies in OROP was a priority and that Grewal’s suicide needed serious investigation. The sources said Defence Minister Parrikar was personally looking into solutions to the complications.
“His letter dated Oct 31 and his suicide on November 1 raise several questions. It also demands serious investigation into who was with the deceased when he took the extreme step, who provided the poison; and if anybody may have taken advantage of his troubled mind to provoke him to take the extreme step,” they said.
The Ministry pointed out it has so far disbursed Rs5,507.47 crore as arrears to more than 30 lakh veterans or their families till last month. The total arrears amount to Rs10,295 crore; and Rs7,488.7 crore will be the annual recurring expenditure.
The clarification came amid allegations that Grewal and several other retired personnel had not got their dues as announced in the Sixth and Seventh Pay Commissions, besides OROP benefits.
While claiming that Grewal was getting his benefits accrued from the Sixth Pay Commission and the OROP, officials said Seventh Pay Commission recommendations were yet to be implemented in the armed forces.
Meanwhile, expressing regret over the alleged suicide by Grewal, Parrikar, now on a two-day visit to Jammu & Kashmir, said in a tweet, “Saddened by the death of Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal. I express my heartfelt condolences. I have asked officials to provide me with details.”
On the implementation of the OROP announced by the Modi Government in September last year, officials said the total arrears of more than Rs10,000 crore were to be paid in four equal half yearly installments.
As on September 15 this year, Rs3,866.88 crore were paid towards first installment on the OROP revised pension to 19,12,520 veterans/family pensioners, and Rs1,640.59 crore paid to 11, 33,100 ex-servicemen/family pensioners towards the second installment. Total amount of Rs5,507.47 crore has been disbursed under the OROP, they said.
The OROP scheme, a long-pending demand of the retired soldiers, implies that uniform pension be paid to the defence forces personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of their date of retirement by bridging the gap between the rates of pension or current and past pensioners at periodic intervals.
Soon after the OROP scheme was announced last year, some groups of veterans demanded that the pension should be revised every year instead of five years as per the OROP. This is one of the so-called anomalies besides some others.
Taking cognizance of the anomalies, the Government set up a one-man committee headed by retired Patna High Court Chief Justice l Narasimha Reddy last year. The committee submitted its report to the Defence Ministry last week and it was now going through the report before taking a decision, officials said.