Govt committed to welfare of ex-servicemen: Parrikar

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said that the government is committed to the welfare of ex-servicemen and more than Rs 5,507 crore has been disbursed under the One Rank One Pension,OROP scheme. 

Giving the details of the OROP implementation so far, Mr Parrikar said there were 20 lakh 63 thousand 763 beneficiaries before July 2014. He said, 19 lakh 12 thousand 520 pensioners have been paid the first instalment and 1 lakh 50 thousand 313 cases are pending verification and authentication of beneficiaries. 

Tweeting the details, Mr Parrikar said, more than Rs 3,886 crore had been disbursed as the first instalment. He said 11 lakh 33 thousand 100 people have received the second instalment of more than Rs 1,604 crore has been disbursed.

Meanwhile,



the group of ex-servicemen, which has been leading the protest at Jantar Mantar over OROP, distanced itself from Grewal’s suicide and said the issue should not be politicised. They also said all politicians, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should stay away from it and the government should sort out the problems.

Sources in the Defence Ministry said, ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who allegedly committed suicide over OROP, was one of the recipients of benefits under the revised pension scheme.However, the Ministry sources said Grewal had received a lesser amount as part of the One Rank-One Pension scheme under the 6th pay commission due to an error in calculation by the bank branch in Bhiwani district of Haryana and the matter is being looked into.