Ex-servicemen to return medals over delay in OROP notification

Upset over delay in formal notification of the ‘one rank, one pension scheme’, the protesting ex-servicemen on Friday announced that they would return their medals across the country next week. 

“The government has delayed the notification of OROP under the pretext of the Model Code of Conduct in place due to Bihar polls. We fear that the notification will not take into account our demand for which we have been on protest over the last 145 days at Jantar Mantar and across the country,” Gp Capt (retd) VK Gandhi, general secretary of Indian Ex-servicemen Movement said. He added that they will also scale up the protest next week.

Gandhi said the veterans will hand over their medals to DMs across the country on November 9 and 10. He said that if they don’t accept the medals, they will be left in their offices which can be later sent to either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or President Pranab Mukherjee.  “Time is over for the government to shift the goalpost,” said Maj Gen (retd) Satbir Singh, Chairman of Indian Ex-servicemen Movement.