Trade union body urges govt not to corporatise ordnance factories

The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) on Tuesday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to corporatise the over two centuries old Indian ordnance factories.

In a letter to Modi as well as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, AITUC urged them to reconsider the move.

"AITUC has urged upon the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister to reconsider the whole matter and to withdraw its decision to corporatize the Ordnance Factories in the interest of national security and defence preparedness of our country," it said in a statement.

It has extended full support to the 80,000-strong workforce of the ordnance factories protesting against the move, the statement said.

 

AITUC fully supports the decision jointly taken by the defence employees federations to go on an indefinite strike from October 12, it said.

The government has arbitrarily taken a decision during the COVID-19 pandemic which goes against the 219-years-old ordnance factories, it said.

The whole intention is to hand over the national assets to crony capitalists and private corporates, it alleged, adding that the ordnance factories have assets worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore and 62,000 acres of land.

These factories, like the army, navy and air force, should be directly under the control of the government since they are for the defence preparedness of the country and not for any commercial purpose, it stressed.

In its letter to Modi and Singh, AITUC has highlighted irregularities in the tender floated by the Department of Defence Production for appointment of a consultant for implementing the corporatisation process of ordnance factories.