Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have announced the date of implementing the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme for ex-servicemen, rather than calling it a "vexed" issue, Congress leader Amarinder Singh said today.
"The Prime Minister should have announced a date to implement the OROP instead of dishing out vague assurances", said the Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar in a statement issued here.
Reacting to Modi's appeal to the ex-servicemen to have patience during his 'Mann Ki Baat' radio address today, Singh said, "Yes, their patience is running out and you are responsible for that."
Modi neither identified the so called complexities involved in the issue, nor did he make any time bound commitment, he said.
The former Punjab Chief Minister also hit out at Modi for his claims that the previous governments had been "playing politics" over this issue for the past 40 years.
The UPA government had already implemented the decision in 2014 and his (Modi) government only needed to follow it up which unfortunately it did not, he said, adding that it was a matter of Rs 9,100 crore only.
"Does this amount really make it too complex to be resolved?" Singh asked.
Instead of advising the ex-servicemen to be patient, the PM should figure out the bureaucratic hurdles in implementation of OROP, he said.
The Congress leader asked the Prime Minister if he can dole out Rs 6,000 crore aid to a country like Mongolia, why can't he grant OROP to ex-servicemen who have given their entire life to the country by spending most part of it guarding the borders.
"If he (Modi) could dole out one billion dollars to a country like Mongolia, why was he denying OROP to the ex-servicemen," the Congress MP asked.
"The PM either appears to be ignorant, or is deliberately trying to mollycoddle our 25 lakh ex-servicemen by his mere sweet talk", he said.
