RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Dec.3: The future of the ‘Mother of Industries’, Heavy Engineering Corporation Limited (HEC), established in Jharkhand capital hangs in balance.
This was reflected as all the workers, who extend their service to the public sector unit (PSU) of high repute and depend for their survival with their families from the income coming from their labour, have gone on tool down strike in all the three plants, including Heavy Machine Tool Building Plant (HMBP), Forge and Foundry Plant (FFP) and Heavy Machine-Building Plant (HMBP).
The reason behind their strike was said to be non-payment of wages for the last seven months.
“The Company requires Rs 12 crore for payment every month for payment of their regular employees, contract labourers and supply workers but for the last seven months, it has not got any amount for wage payment. It has made the lives of around 3500 workers miserable,” said a contract worker sharing the problem.
General Secretary of Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, Rama Shankar Prasad, confirmed the situation saying there is no one to take care of the company.
“Chairman cum managing director of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) Nalin Singhal has been given additional charge of HEC. Sitting in New Delhi he is good for nothing. During the last three years of his tenure, he hardly visited HEC more than three times. This is the reason such a situation has come as there is no one to think about HEC,” Prasad said.
Attempted to contact Singhal for his comment on the matter on his official number 01126001001, a person who identified himself as his secretary, Sanjay, took the call and assured a talk with the CMD jotting down the details at 12.39pm but later did not respond. Similarly, senior officials in the HEC office at Ranchi also remained unavailable for their comments.
An insider, however, said a meeting on the matter is scheduled from 4pm today.
“Director (personnel) M.K.Saxena, was out of station. He has returned today and a meeting is planned at 4pm to discuss the matter,” the insider said requesting anonymity.
Contacted Rajya Sabha member Sameer Oraon in the mid of parliamentary session for a comment on the matter he said he had already raised the issue of HEC in the house a year ago.
“When I raised the issue of revival of HEC like Sindri Fertilizer Plant in Sindri, I had got a reply that a plan is afoot to merge HEC with the department of atomic energy but after that what happened is required to be checked. I will certainly look into the matter as the issue is related to the capital of Jharkhand,” Oraon said.
HEC is one of the leading suppliers of capital equipment in India for steel, mining, railways, power, defense, and space research, nuclear and strategic sectors. It also executes turn-key projects from concept-to-commissioning. Set-up in the year 1958, HEC has acquired expertise in its field through its more than half a century’s experience.
With the seamless integration of its facilities, HEC is one of the largest integrated engineering complexes. Sprawling in an area of around 2100,000 sq.m, HEC has facilities starting from steel melting, casting, forging, fabrication, machining, assembly and testing. It has its own in-house research and product development wing to deliver products suiting customers’ specifications.
HEC is headquartered at Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand, in eastern part of India, and also has its manufacturing facilities located here. A well-suited location nearing to customer sites and proximity to the ports for import items, is an added advantage for its cost-effectiveness.
Founded primarily to facilitate the manufacture of steel plant equipment indigenously, HEC has made immense contribution in setting-up, expansion and modernization of steel plants in India. In due course, HEC had diversified to different sectors and made commendable contributions towards manufacture and supply of import-substitute products. Bestowed with the onus of making the country self-reliant for heavy engineering equipment and services, HEC continues to contribute in the nation-building endeavor.
