OROP in 48 hours, but equalisation clause still not acceptable to veterans

New Delhi, Sept 4: The draft agreement on One Rank One Pension is ready and is expected to be announced in the next two days. As per the draft agreement, OROP will take effect from July 1 2014 with the base year being 2013.

The draft agreement further states that the equalization of pension shall take place every five years. The veterans have however demanded that the equalization takes place every year and as a compromise formula they would agree to it once in two years too.

The announcement is likely to be made in the next two days. The point of contention however could be the equalization issue as the draft states it would be done once in five years. On the equalization issue, Major General (retd) Satbir Singh said in Delhi that the protests would escalate if all the demands were not implemented.

The government however will go ahead and make this announcement in the next two days. The government wants the announcement to be made before the date of the Bihar elections are announced. The draft agreement would be presented before the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee either today or tomorrow. The President would be briefed about the same before the announcement is made.

The veterans had petitioned the President of India seeking his intervention into the matter. The Government says that after the President has a look at the draft agreement, the announcement would made.

The draft agreement further notes that there shall be a one man judicial commission which would be set up. The commission would study if there is any anomaly in the OROP issue and submit a report to the government in six months.

It would be interesting to see if the equalization clause is agreed to by the veterans. They have already stated that they will not agree to the five year clause. Major General Satbir Singh said that they were only demanding their dues.

OneIndia News