Chandigarh, March 2, 2015: Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh today accused the BJP led NDA government of worst betrayal with the ex-servicemen of the country for not granting their long pending demand of 'one rank one pension' even in its second budget. He regretted that the Finance Minister had skipped the matter so conveniently in his last budget thus shattering the hopes of about 30 lakh ex-servicemen across the country.
In a statement issued here today Capt Amarinder said, much against the expectations and the commitment made by the Defence Minister Manohar Parikar to him that the OROP will be settled as the modalities were being worked out, surprisingly there was no mention of it in the budget.
The Congress leader disclosed that he had written to the Defence Minister before the budget seeking that the OROP should be announced without any delay. He said, the Defence Minister had in his reply assured that the modalities were being worked out and the issue shall be settled soon. “I was shocked when the matter was skipped by the Finance Minister in his budget speech”, he said.
Capt Amarinder alleged that the dilly dallying on the issue betrays the intentions of the government which do not seem to be good at all. "I am surprised that despite having assured during the campaign and subsequently after forming the government the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister have let down 30 lakh ex-servicemen who have given their entire life to the country ", he said.
The former Chief Minister demanded that the union government must make a time bound commitment on the matter. "Otherwise their intentions of not granting the OROP to the ex-servicemen would be exposed ", he remarked, while asserting, just because the ex-servicemen are too disciplined to stage protests and hold the nation to ransom, should not mean that they can be taken for granted.
“Let us not forget that they have given their life to the country and it is now the duty of the country to pay back to them and their demands are not too big to be met”, he observed and added, “Rs 9100 (nine thousand one hundred) crores should not matter much when it comes to the welfare of our ex-servicemen”.
Date:
Monday, March 2, 2015