6th Pay Panel Anomalies: Ex-servicemen threaten to burn medals

Nurpur, January 27
Large number defence pensioners and martyrs’ widows from Kangra and Chamba districts held protest demonstration on the Republic Day against the Central Government’s apathy towards pensioners.

Under the banner of local unit of Ex-servicemen League they also offered their Army medal before the idol of Lord Krishna in the Brijraj Swami temple here to express their resentment against the indifferent attitude of the Union Government towards the ex-defence personnel who had spent juvenile life for sake of national service.

President of the local unit of the league Lt Col NS Pathania, who was spearheading the demonstration, said the Sixth Pay Commission had undermined the status of serving defence pensioners of the country by giving its recommendations full of anomalies. He said the commission had recommended only 12 per cent increment of the basic pay against the hike of 33 per cent inflation in the country.
Ex-servicemen protest against govt apathy

6th Pay Panel Anomalies: Ex-servicemen threaten to burn medals
Chandigarh, January 3
Flaying the government’s attitude towards their cause, a section of ex-servicemen threatened to burn their gallantry awards if the government did not take concrete step to meet their demands by January 26. Col. P.I.S. Phulka (retd.), National President, Ex-Serviceman Wing, (SAD), today said if the government would not pay heed to their demands, hundreds of ex-sevicemen from states, including Punjab, Haryana and Himachal, would gather in New Delhi and burn their medals.

He said ex-soldiers were already sitting on hunger strike to press for their demands at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Col Phulka stated that the pay scales were creating resentment amongst the armed forces of the country.

Addressing a press conference here Col Phulka said the bureaucracy left no chance to give a negative colour to the thinking of their political bosses in order to downgrade the status of security forces.

He further stated that the demand of “one rank one pension” of the ex-servicemen was outrightly rejected by the defence minister under the ill advice of these bureaucrats.

“As per Madan Lal Khurana Committee’s report, the implementation of this demand involved an expenditure of Rs 650 crore only whereas these bureaucrats twisted the financial implications of this proposal to the tune of Rs 45,000 crore,” he said.

Col Phulka said the increase of 70 per cent to the personnel below officer rank recommended earlier had been reduced 50 per cent by the Sixth Pay Commission (SPC).

“Almost 90 per cent of the PBORs are part of armed forces, who have been adversely affected by the decision of the SPC,” he said. He added that the terminology used by the group of officers in respect of pay band-4 has confused it in such a manner that the 7th Pay Commission if ever appointed, will not be in a position to rectify the anomalies in the pay scales and the members of the armed forces will have to face litigations to get their claims.

“Even class IV employees in the Central government would be getting better pay scales, pensioner benefits and benefit of holidays and duty hour than the sepoys of the armed forces,” he said.

Col Phulka expressed apprehensions that some anti-armed forces elements had sneaked in the Ministry of Defence to torpedo the interests of the armed forces and to demoralise them. He referred to an incident where a martyr was compared to a dog by a political leader.

He exhorted the 7 lakh ex-serviceman of the state and family members of the working soldiers that they should rise above petty politics and work together under the banner of Ex-Serviceman Wing to get their genuine demands accepted by the Centre.
Ex-servicemen threaten to burn medals