Tribune News Service
Mandi, November 24
The recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission are a bolt from the blue for serving and retired personnel of the armed forces. This was stated by the Honorary Commissioned Officers’ Welfare Association of Himachal Pradesh.
In a statement issued here today, association president Capt Jagdish Verma (retd) said the recommendations made to the government were unfriendly and demoralising for them. They said scrapping the already existing facilities or benefits like calculating of military service pay for house rent and transfer grant, use of 100 units of free electricity, funeral allowances and reducing Siachen allowances were some of the key benefits not taken care of by the pay commission.
Capt Verma also regretted that the Honorary Commissioned Officers — Honorary Lieutenants and Captains and their equivalent — who get the Commission in penultimate year of service to elevate their status and prestige in recognition of their meritorious and selfless service of the highest order to defence forces, had also been kept at par for pay and pension with their counterpart regular Lieutenant and Captain of the Army and their equivalents in other two services, including the Air Force and the Navy.