IESM Delegation Met FM Sh. Arun Jaitley on 16 July 14
I would like to inform you that yesterday, 16 Jul 14, I along with Maj Gen Satbir, IESM and Col Handa, DIWAVE and some others from IESM met the RM on the subject of OROP, due to the kind courtesy of Gen VK Singh. The gist of the meeting was that the RM emphasised that he was-

a)  committed to granting OROP, as it has been repeatedly promised by the PM and stated by him in his budget speech.

b)  the definition of OROP as stated by KoshiyariCommittee is not sacrosanct as politicians are prone to make populist commitments.

c)  wanting a definite figure of the financial effect OROP would have. He said that he wants the CGDA and DESW to work out the amount. We offered him the various figures given by different committees and that the maximum amount was in the region of Rs 9,000 crs.

When he repeated that the CGDA and DESW will form a committee along with service reps to take on this task, we clearly told him that we had no trust in the desire of the two civilian reps to resolve any matter in favour of soldiers. 

When we told him that if the pensions are paid as per the accepted definition of OROP for three months the expenditure for the year can be extrapolated. He was not willing to do even that.

Finally, when we took leave of him as a parting shot he said that we should lower our expectations.     So the mind of the RM is now known to us. 

Therefore, unless you three show a united front the ESM, current and future, can keep whistling till they turn blue.

Lt Gen SK Bahri (Retd)

Chairman 

Alliance Of Ex Servicemen Organisations.