New Delhi: An ex-serviceman has allegedly committed suicide over the delay in the implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme by the Modi government.
Ram Kishan Garehwal, who was protesting at Jantar Mantar, called his family on Tuesday night and informed them that he was committing suicide as the government has failed to fulfill their demands related to OROP. He is believed to have consumed some poisonous substance to commit suicide.
A native of Bhiwani in Haryana. Garehwal left behind a suicide note in which he expressed extreme displeasure over being denied benefits of 6th and 7th pay commissions.
The suicide note also mentions that the government, despite promises, has not been able to correct the discrepancy in pensions. “People of the same rank are getting more pension than me,” he wrote.
“At least the government will wake up (after his suicide),” he wrote.
The 70-year-old ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal committed suicide by consuming poison at a park in New Delhi area yesterday evening.
Police said he along with some other ex-servicemen was in the process of submitting a memorandum to the Defence Ministry over the issue of OROP.
Garewhal was rushed to RML Hospital from Jantar Mantar but the doctors declared him brought dead.
The shocking suicide comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that he has "fulfilled the promise" he made to ex-servicemen on the issue that has been hanging fire for the last 40 years.
"The OROP was not about just Rs 200 or Rs 500 crore, but Rs 10,000 crore... After I became the PM, and decided that I had to do (implement) it, the entire government lost sleep over it... It was not possible for the government to pay in one go, so I requested the ex-servicemen to accept it in four installments."
"The money will reach them in four installments. Nearly, Rs 5,500 crore has been paid as the first installment," Modi said.
Modi also said that many people thought that if the scheme was not implemented, a section of "ex-servicemen would turn against the government".
