Centre mulls closing down iconic HMT's tractor unit at Pinjore

Not finding running the iconic tractor making unit at Pinjore as "viable", the Centre has proposed Haryana government to take over HMT Limited's land in lieu of settling the dues of employees.
In a proposal sent by Heavy Industries minister Anant G Geete to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, the Centre expressed "inability" to run the famous Public Sector Undertaking located about 25 km from Chandigarh.
However, Haryana CM Khattar today said that the interest of employees will be kept in mind before taking any decision pertaining to HMT Pinjore unit.
When contacted, Jawahar Yadav, OSD to Khattar, said, that no final decision has yet been taken in this regard on Centre's proposal.

But he said "the state government will take a call in this regard while keeping in mind the interest of employees working in the factory which has been running into losses".
In the proposal, the union minister has said that in the wake of "changed economic and industrial scenario", the performance of the company was "unsatisfactory".

"It has become economical and financially unviable to run the factory and it is not in a position to pay salaries to its employees and workers," the minister said in the letter.
The union minister noted that several steps in the past were taken to infuse fresh life into the factory, but in vain.

The government is contemplating to "close down" the unit while employees and workers be given attractive compensation, the letter stated.
The Centre has proposed the Haryana government to acquire 837 acres of land of the factory and in return, clear the dues of the employees before closing it down, as per letter.
Described as pioneer of farm mechanisation in the country, PSU HMT Limited was set up in the year 1971 in Pinjore. This unit is fully integrated with foundry, manufacturing, assembly and testing facilities for 20,000 tractors and engines.
The company first rolled out 25 HP tractor in collaboration with Motokov of erstwhile Czekoslovakia.

Thereafter, it launched a range of tractors of several capacities including 25 HP, 35 HP, 45 HP, 59 HP and 75 HP.
Vikas Bansal, President of Shivalik Vikas Manch, which is pursuing the revival of HMT factory, slammed the government's proposal for closing down the factory.
He said, Pinjore unit of HMT is the source of livelihood of people and it has the potential to be one of those enterprises that can realise the 'Make in India' dream.
Bansal said the unit was in profits till 1990 and it was also exporting to various countries. "Thereafter, the unit started suffering for various reasons including policy shifts, bureaucratic hold ups and the flight of talent and then the working capital dried up.

He said the government in 2013 had given the tractor unit a revival package of Rs 1,083 crore.
However, the package could not realise the objectives, Bansal claimed. The factory is estimated to have about 2,000 employees.