Panaji, Oct 31 (IANS): Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Monday that while past governments only paid lip service to the OROP issue, it is only the NDA government that actually implemented the scheme for defence personnel.

"Almost 20.69 lakh ex-servicemen are benefitting. So, this government has kept its promise and actually given the money. All others merely talked for the last 43 years. It is not a demand that was made last year, or even during the last general elections," Parrikar told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of the state's first multi-level parking facility in Panaji.

Parrikar said the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme was hanging fire since the 1970s and no past government did much to resolve the issue.

"For 43 years, no one did anything. The National Democratic Alliance government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented the scheme. We have already disbursed more than Rs 5,500 crore as against an annual OROP expenditure of around Rs 7,500 crore. We are giving arrears as well as making the current payments," Parrikar said.