Maran plays saviour for Hindustan Cables

The department of telecom (DoT) has come as a saviour for Hindustan Cables, a sick PSU under the department of heavy industries, by agreeing to lobby on its behalf with Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) for orders.

"Communications minister Dayanidhi Maran is extremely positive about helping Hindustan Cables with orders from BSNL for both jelly-filled and optical fibre cables," K Basu, chairman of the Board for Reconstruction of Public Enterprises, said today.

He said the minister was even open to the idea of BSNL taking over Hindustan Cables on management contract. "This will be discussed later," Basu added.

Hindustan Cables makes sophisticated cables and wires for communication, catering to the needs of sectors like telecom, defence and railways. However, it has been starved of orders, and since Feburary 2003 it has not produced either jelly-filled cables or optical fibre cables.

Hindustan Cables has units at Rupnarianpu in West Bengal, Naini in Uttar Pradesh and Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh.