New Delhi: Even as talks with the Central government’s mediators continue, ex-servicemen staging a hunger strike to seek immediate implementation of the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme said on Thursday that there was no clarity from the government’s side over the issue. Thursday was the 81st day of protest by ex-servicemen in the national capital, with relay hunger strikes being held in close to 60 towns and cities. Thirteen retired soldiers are on indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar. “How do we negotiate when the government does not say what it is willing to offer?” asked Col. Anil Kaul (retd.) at the Jantar Mantar protest site. “The government makes its offers, we present our demands. But nothing is clear. One mediator makes one offer, another one makes another… The way we have conveyed our demands clearly, the government should also make its offers ready.”
Group Captain VK Gandhi (retd.) said: “There is no one statement from the government… Six or seven different mediators are talking to us, they are sending different people to get concessions, but there is nothing concrete.” About the probability of the government announcing the OROP unilaterally, the veterans said if they found it was not as per their demands, their agitation would continue. “We want One Rank One Pension, not one rank two pension or one rank three pension…” Group Captain Gandhi said. “Unless there is revision every year, it will not be One Rank One Pension.” Col. Kaul further said the review the veterans were asking for at the rate of 3% every year is not an increment, but for equilisation of pensions. “We are not asking for any three percent increment. There is no such thing as increment. What we have asked for is a periodic review of pension so that at no stage the definition of OROP, as accepted by parliament, is violated,” he said.
About the condition of veterans staging an indefinite hunger strike for so many days, the ex-servicemen wished to know if the government would take the responsibility if anything happened to them. Col. Pushpender Singh (retd), who started an indefinite fast on August 17, and had to be evacuated and taken to hospital later, returned to Jantar Mantar on Wednesday. Along with him is Havaldar Major Singh, also on fast since August 17, who has refused to leave the protest site despite his deteriorating health condition. Asked about fissures emerging among senior officers and Junior Commissioned Officers over OROP, Gandhi and Kaul rubbished such rumours.
