OROP: What is preventing PM Modi from announcing the scheme, questions Congress

New Delhi, July 25: Congress has slammed Modi Government for not implementing One Rank One Pension scheme despite Army veterans ongoing protest for the same.

Questioning Prime Minister, Congress MP Amarinder Singh said that when PM Modi can announce Rs. 1 lakh crore special package to Jammu and Kashmir, what is preventing him from giving Rs. 9,100 crore for the pension scheme for ex-servicemen.

Showing concern for the cause for which Army veterans have been protesting in different parts of the country, Singh regretted the "long and unexplained delay" in granting OROP to the ex-servicemen by the NDA government, despite the previous UPA regime "already having approved it".

Reminding the PM of the promises he made to ex-servicemen over the issue during poll campaign, Captain Amarinder said, "Now more than a year has passed since you formed government and the matter is perpetually and deliberately being delayed. This delay amounts to virtual denial."

He wondered whether an amount of Rs. 9100 crores really matter for a country like India and that too when it was meant for our retired defence personnel.

The former Punjab Chief Minister said, the ex-servicemen have given their life for the country guarding our borders in most hostile conditions.

"Most of them have spent their life entirely in Kashmir and a number of them sacrificed it for the sake of the country", he said while wondering as how could the government be so "insensitive" towards the genuine and justified demand of the veterans.

OneIndia News

(with inputs from PTI)