The Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday held talks with agitating ex-servicemen over “One Rank, One Pension (OROP)” issue. According to the leaders of veteran soldiers, they agreed not to escalate the agitation after the “positive assurances” given by Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra.
Meanwhile, following a directive from Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Delhi Police apologised to the veteran soldiers for misbehaving with the protesters at Jantar Mantar on August 14.
“We met Nripendra Misra in the morning. He stressed that normalcy should be restored. Asked what he meant by that, he said the fast-unto-death should be called off. We told him that if there is a concrete assurance, we will stop it,” lt Gen Balbir Singh (Retd), president of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement, said.
He added that since talks have already been held with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who had sought ten days time to discuss the issue with the PM, “there won’t be any escalation of protest for ten days.”
Maj Gen Satbir Singh (Retd), who along with lt Gen Balbir met Misra on Tuesday morning for an hour, said that they have made it clear that definition of OROP will remain the same. “We have also sought an assured date for the implementation of OROP and the date of effect will remain April 1, 2014 as was decided by the Government,” Satbir told the media.
Col Anil Kaul (Retd), media adviser to United Front of Ex-Servicemen (UFESM), said Misra had stressed that the three who have gone on a fast-unto-death be requested to not go ahead. “We told him that it was an individual decision and members are trying to pursue them to call off their fast,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on August 15 reiterated his Government’s commitment towards the OROP but refrained from giving a time frame on its implementation. The Centre has maintained that the scheme will be implemented as soon as the technical difficulties are resolved. On Monday, ten former Service Chiefs had written to the Prime Minister pressing for expeditious resolution of the OROP issue.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police, which had come under fire for the manner in which it tried to evict protesters on the eve of Independence Day citing security concerns, on Tuesday apologised to the agitating ex- servicemen for their action.
Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) MK Meena went to the protest venue and apologised for the August 14 crackdown which had triggered strong political reaction as well as outrage among the former soldiers, a gesture appreciated by the protesters.