Ex-servicemen rally for OROP, block highway

BATHINDA: Accusing the NDA government of running away from implementing "one-rank one-pension" (OROP), hundreds of ex-servicemen gathered under the aegis of the Indian Ex-Servicemen League (IESL) on Wednesday and blocked the Bathinda-Chandigarh highway near the Bathinda cantonment for nearly three hours.
IESL's Punjab unit president Brig Inder Mohan Singh (retd) said, "Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi had declared in the Parliament on June 9, 2014 that NDA government has accepted the demand of defence personnel to implement OROP.But even after more than a year, it has not been implemented. Lakhs of ex-servicemen across the nation are disappointed and angry with the government." Singh said different governments at the Centre had failed to provide justice to ex-servicemen due to which their passions were running high. The strength of ex-servicemen was growing as nearly 5,000 defence personnel retire every month, added Singh.
Bathinda sub-divisional magistrate Damanjit Singh Mann and a large number of policemen led by superintendent of police (city) Des Raj were present at the protest site but ex-servicemen handed over a memorandum to a representative of Bathinda army area corps commander.