Saturday 10 March 2007

Gurkha Pensions - Good news but not good enough


The Ministry of Defence is to pay ex-Gurkhas the same pensions as British soldiers. Ex-Gurkhas Currently receive just a sixth of the average army pension (£984 a year) and many ex-Gurkhas say they are left destitute.
The new pension deal will not apply to Nepalese soldiers who retired before July 1997, leaving many disappointed.
Padam Bahadur Gurung, President of the Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen's Organisation, said: "This is good news for serving Gurkhas, but not for the Gurkhas who fought in the Second World War and the Falklands."
There are currently about 3,500 Gurkhas serving in the Army and close to 20,000 former soldiers living in Britain and Nepal.

Read the full story HERE

3 comments:

Max said...

Just an idea - scrap the Olympics - pay all the Gurkha pensions and build a few hospitals at the same time.

Colin Campbell said...

Having lived in Nepal, I know that these guys work hard for their money and deserve the same reward for doing the same work as other soldiers. This is justice, too late for many. Whole families depend on this long term income.

Anonymous said...

I think its really disgraceful for a country like the Britain to fail to recognise her past and present heroes. Surely dying for a country deserve more than this.