Former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday made an appeal to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to sympathetically resolve all grievances of ex-servicemen, including those involving pension, family pension and disability pension.

In a letter to the defence minister, the Member of Parliament from Bathinda said she had received memorandums from the Sainik Welfare Ekta Society and the Ex-Servicemen Welfare Organization who had been protesting continuously in support of their demands since 20 February and appealed to the Defence minister to resolve them at the earliest.

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“Our ex-servicemen are our pride. The sacrifices made by them for our motherland are beyond comparison. It is our duty as a society to take care of them in the twilight of their lives,” she added.

Badal said ex-servicemen had highlighted the need to resolve anomalies in pension, family pension and disability pension. She said junior commissioned officers (JCOs)  and jawans who retired early were not getting the full benefit of One Rank One Pension (OROP) because their pension had been wrongly fixed on average basis instead of being fixed at the maximum scale.

The SAD leader said there was also a need to increase family pension from the present sixty per cent limit. “Ex-servicemen have also detailed anomalies in fixing of disability pensions for JCO’s and jawans which needs to be addressed,” she added.

Speaking about the other issues highlighted before her, Badal said JCO’s and jawans were also being given less military service pay on account of hardship and risks of military service vis a vis officers and that this anomaly should be removed. She said similarly allowance for hazardous operations should be uniform across all ranks.

Calling for an early resolution of the demands of ex-servicemen who have been protesting under the banner of the Federation of Veterans Association, Badal said “It is in the country’s interest that ex-servicemen end their ‘dharna’ at the earliest”.