HEC staff demand talks with CMD

Ranchi: As the strike by over 300 executives of the city-based Heavy Engineering Corporation Ltd. (HEC) entered the fifth day on Monday, the agitators said they would not end their agitation till the chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of HEC meets them in person and redresses their grievances.
The executives are demonstrating since November 3 for immediate payment of their salaries due for the past one year. The workers too have not been paid their wages for the past 10 months.
“With no salaries for the past one year, we are struggling for two square meals a day. Even the payment of school fees of our children has become difficult. The sit-in is our spontaneous reaction and a determined bid to end the crisis that has enveloped this over six-decade-old PSU for several years,” the agitators said.
Though they are demanding a direct dialogue with the top management, insiders said they are unaware if HEC CMD Nalin Shinghal, who holds the additional charge of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) and is stationed at New Delhi, has any plan to visit Ranchi.
The workers during a meeting of the six trade unions operating at HEC on Monday decided to demonstrate in front of the HEC corporate office every afternoon from Wednesday, Hatia Mazdoor Union president Bhawan Singh said.
Meanwhile, production at Foundry and Forge (FFP), Heavy Machine Tools Plant (HMTP), and Heavy Machine Buildings Plant (HMBP) at Ranchi, have come to a halt with execution of work orders from defense, space research, railways, steel and coal sectors on an indefinite hold. HEC is also unable to pay for even the raw materials and other inputs needed for its plants.