Parrikar assures of settling 99 percent of eligible OROP cases by January

New Delhi, [India], Jan. 3 (ANI): Highlighting the initiatives taken by the Defence Ministry, Union Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar on Tuesday said that around 99 percent of the eligible cases under One Rank One Pension (OROP) will be settled by January, 2017, adding that around 13,000 cases are sent to pension disbursement authorities. Speaking at the Ministry of Defence's 'Swachhta Pakhwada' event, Parrikar further said that during last two and a half years, the ministry through ex-servicemen cell has been able to settle many of the issues. "OROP is one of the important issues. So far we have already paid the pension on first or second week of January. These cases should be in total finality, 13000 cases are sent to pension disbursement authorities. Almost 99 percent of the eligible cases will be settled probably by January, one percent is settled yet as we are trying to trace them," Parrikar said. "These are some the measure issues in welfare which we have already completed or it has been approved but orders are about to be issued," Parrikar added. He asserted that the broad banding benefit to the personnel, who are retained in service till normal retirement, has been granted. "Around 5000 cases for revision of pension notionally for the rank of Naik Subedar in respect of personnel granted has been settled," he added. The OROP scheme, announced in September 2015, is meant to ensure equal pension to servicemen who retired on the same rank and after the same duration of service, regardless of the year of retirement. However, retired soldiers have been alleging that the government has not addressed their concerns fully about disparity in pension payments. (ANI)