http://zeenews.india.com/news/india...icemans-suicide-claims-v-k-singh_1946154.html
Last Updated: Thursday, November 3, 2016 - 21:04
New Delhi:
Union Minister V K Singh today disputed the allegation that army veteran
Ram Kishan Grewal committed suicide due to his grievance over OROP.
He also said the deceased soldier was a Congress worker, who had won Panchayat election on ticket of that party.
Singh, a former army chief, said Grewal's grievance was with the bank and the not the government.
"If he had come to us and if we had not resolved his issue, then it would have been our mistake.
"The reason of his death is not related to OROP.
He was getting a pension of Rs 22,000. His issue was with the bank... the bank had asked him to produce some papers. His concern was not related to OROP," Singh said.
The Union Minister also rejected reports about Grewal being a prominent face of the 'One Rank-One Pension' agitation, saying ex-servicemen protesting at Jantar Mantar for its implementation had yesterday said they had seen the former armyman at the protest venue for the first time before he committed suicide.
"He (Grewal) was a Congress worker. He became sarpanch on Congress' ticket. However,
he was our soldier. I feel sad over his death," the Minister of State for External Affairs said.
The Minister had landed himself in controversy yesterday when he said the "mental state" of Grewal needed to be probed before drawing conclusions about his extreme action.
"He has committed suicide. No one knows the reason behind it. OROP is being shown as the reason. What his mental state was we do not know. Let it be probed first. OROP should be kept above politics," Singh told reporters, while reacting to the incident which led to high-voltage protests in the national capital yesterday.
He went on to state that the Centre had accepted the long-pending demands of the agitating veterans and there was no need to get into what one was saying for "4 paisa."
About Grewal ending his life by consuming poison, Singh said," What could be the reason behind someone consuming sulphas. Who gave him sulphas? And there is an audio which is being circulated in the media...
"Can anyone talk like this after consuming suplhas. Or his son, to whom he said 'I have consumed three tablets of sulphas' will listen to his father calmly. I dont wan't to politicise the issue," Singh said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, November 3, 2016 - 21:04
http://zeenews.india.com/news/india...benefit-of-orop-manohar-parrikar_1946005.html
Srinagar: As the suicide by an Army veteran over One Rank One Pension scheme snowballed into a huge political show, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Thursday, said around one lakh ex-military personnnel are yet to get full benefit of OROP.
Commenting on the contentious issue, Parrikar admitted that there was some technical issue in full implementation of OROP, adding that it will be soon sorted out.
"Only one lakh ex-servicemen (out of over 20 lakh) are not getting pension as per OROP scheme due to some technical difficulty or documentation problems. We will resolve these problems in coming two months," he said addressing Army veterans in Budgam.
The government is committed to fulfil its election promise of implementing the OROP, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asserted.
“Government is committed to ex-servicemen welfare,” the Union Minister said.
Parrikar said the government is sensitive to OROP issue as it was not implemented for the past 43 years.
"We did it. Every year Rs 7,500 crore (will be incurred) and Rs 11,000 crore arrears have been paid. There has been 23 to 24 percent average increase in pension," he added.
After interacting and listening to the problems of the ex-servicemen, Parikkar assure them that their grievances would be resolved.
"Whatever (problems) has been conveyed to me today will be resolved by the time I come again. Today, I was given 10 minutes for an interaction with you but I extended it to 40 minutes. Next time, I will spend half a day with you," he said, adding he will make all efforts to resolve the problems of the ex-servicemen.
Earlier, the Defence Minister had tweeted the status report of OROP implementation.
Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday had said the first installment of nearly Rs 5,500 crore has been paid for implementing the OROP scheme.
"The OROP was not about just Rs 200 crore or Rs 500 crore, but Rs 10,000 crore... After I became the PM, and decided that I had to do (implement) it, the entire government lost sleep over it... It was not possible for the government to pay in one go, so I requested the ex-servicemen to accept it in four instalments.
"The money will reach them in four instalments. Nearly, Rs 5,500 crore has been paid as the first installment," PM Modi had said.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other opposition leaders are attacking the Modi government over the suicide of former soldier Ram Kishan Grewal, who allegedly took the drastic step demanding OROP's implementation.
A former Rajputana Rifles subedar, the 70-year-old allegedly consumed poison at a Delhi park on Tuesday evening demanding the immediate implementation of the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.
Huge political drama has been unfolding since yesterday with Kejriwal, Rahul and several other Congress leaders paying a visit to Bamla village in Haryana's Bhiwani district to attend the funeral of Grewal.
BJP today hit out at Rahul and Kejriwal for playing politics over the ex-armyman's alleged suicide.
First Published: Thursday, November 3, 2016 - 14:20
*************
Panel submits report
The one-man judicial committee headed by Justice L Narasimha Reddy, retired Chief Justice of Patna High Court, set up to look into implementation issues had submitted its report to the government early last week. Officials said that the report is being studied and action would be taken once done.
However, the veterans questioned why the government has not come out with the committee’s recommendations.
“Justice Reddy has submitted the report on Oct.25, then why is it kept confidential? It is not about operations details. It is about the welfare of soldiers. Let them put it out,” said Maj Gen Satbir Singh (retd.), Chairman of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM).
The OROP implies uniform pension to personnel based on rank and length of service.
The major demands of the veterans are equalisation of pension annually and not five years, personnel opting for Pre-Mature Retirement (PMR) should also be eligible for the OROP, implementation from April 2014 and not July 2014, take the highest pay scale of 2013 for revising pension and not the average of the maximum and minimum as the intended by the government and not to link the OROP with the Seventh Pay Commission.
The Defence officials said that
as on Sept. 15, Rs.5,507 crore had been disbursed to about 20 lakh veterans under the OROP in two instalments. Financial implication of implementing it from
July 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015 would approximately be Rs.10,925 crore and Rs.7,488 crore would be the annual recurring expenditure.
