'Medals never returned, just deposited with govt'

IESM chairman Lt Gen Raj Kadyan (retd) said, "Of late there have been persistent demands to take back our medals. The IESM governing body passed a resolution on April 26 to begin the process of retrieving the medals."
Kadyan had suggested the idea of mounting pressure on the government by depositing the medals with the government. "We never 'returned' the medals.These decorations were deposited with the government for the time being," he insisted.
Colonel Dinesh Nain (retd), secretary general of the United Front of Ex-Servicemen (UFESM), said that the veterans are not politicians and the general sentiment in the fraternity is to get the decorations back. A list of veterans who had deposited medals is already with the IESM.
Lt Col S S Sohi (retd), president of the ex-servicemen grievances cell, Mohali, however, said that the circumstances are not convincing enough for veterans to start taking back their medals. Sohi, who has been instrumental in running the OROP movement in Punjab, said that such decisions should be taken only if the government sets a deadline to remove anomalies in the OROP scheme.