New Delhi: Under fire over the non-implementation of the One Rank One Pension, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said had the budget of the scheme was Rs 500 crore, he would have implemented it in a week.
Without naming the leader, Parrikar said, "I saw a senior politician talking about One Rank One Pension that it could be done with Rs 500 crore. If OROP could have been done with Rs 500 crore, I would have done it in exactly seven days. People who don't have in-depth knowledge about a subject say these things and that is what creates problems."
The scheme has been hanging fire for the last 33 years and veterans feel let down by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
OROP has been a long-standing demand of the over 2 million ex-servicemen in the country. It seeks to ensure that a uniform pension is paid to defence personnel who retire at the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement.
The scheme is estimated to cost around Rs 8,000 crore initially and subsequently several crore rupees annually.
After being let down by many governments for years, the veterans are now demanding that a timeline be given for the implementation of the scheme and have planned a massive protest in the national capital on June 14.
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