Civilian defence staff protest corporation

OVER 25,000 civilian staffers, working in different defence establishments of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday turned up for work an hour late to protest against the reported move to turn the Ordnance Factories Board into a corporation.

OVER 25,000 civilian staffers, working in different defence establishments of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday turned up for work an hour late to protest against the reported move to turn the Ordnance Factories Board into a corporation.

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A committee headed by Vijay Kelkar has recommended in this line. The UPA government had formed the committee to suggest ways for restructuring the Ordnance Factories. 

The workers reported for their duties an hour late in Ordnance Factory Khamaria (OFK), Vehicle Factory Jabalpur (VFJ), Gun Carriage Factory (GCF), Grey Iron Foundry (GIF), 506 Army Base Workshop, Central Ordnance Depot, Ordnance Factory, Katni and Ordnance Factory, Itarsi.

The decision to protest was taken jointly by the three workers’ unions – All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF), Indian National Defence Workers Federation (INDWF) and Bharatiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh (BPMS).

Talking to Hindustan Times, Working Committee Member of AIDEF, GRC Panicker said that the workers in all the six ordnance factories in the State, besides COD and 506 Army Base Workshop went to work an hour late. He said that even the supervisors and Non Gazzetted Officers (NGOs) in the ordnance factories joined the protest.

He said that all the three workers’ unions of defence establishments would take strike ballot for a day’s stir in near future and asserted that the ordnance factories workers wouldn’t allow the Centre to turn the Board into Corporation.