Will intensify agitation if demands not met: ex-servicemen

5 Dariya News

New Delhi 04-Sep-2015

Ex-servicemen seeking immediate implementation of OROP threatened on Friday to intensify their agitation if their demands were not met.Saying the government was planning to make a unilateral announcement of One Rank One Pension, Major General Satbir Singh (retired) said they would not allow the government to dilute the OROP's provisions.Addressing retired soldiers at the Jantar Mantar protest venue, Satbir Singh said they were fighting against "injustice" and were not against any government or political party.

He pointed out that unlike civil servants, only one percent of military personnel serve up to the age of 60 and that 85 percent retire before the age of 40. "We will intensify our agitation if OROP is not in conformity with what we are asking," Satbir Singh said, adding that they were, however, willing to make minor concessions."If any announcement (by the government) is against our interests, we will oppose it," he added.Satbir Singh described the Jantar Mantar protest site in the heart of the national capital as a "Sainik parliament".As he spoke, hundreds of former soldiers repeatedly raised slogans like "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Sainik Ekta Zindabad!"