Hope thrives

New Delhi , May 31: The Railway ministry may take over Burn Standard’s two wagon making units in Bengal, based on the recommendations of the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises.

BRPSE chairman Nitish Sengupta told The Telegraph: “I have written to railway minister Mamata Banerjee asking the railways to take over the two units as captive wagon makers

“I think she would be inclined towards this as it makes economic sense to have captive units who can keep costs down and deliver tailor-made solutions for the railways,” Sengupta said.

Former railway minister Lalu Prasad had made a similar promise on Burn Standard but had not taken any concrete action to take over the units in Burnpur and Howrah.

The railways had taken over Bharat Wagon Limited’s factories at Mokama and Muzaffarpur in Bihar during Yadav’s tenure but had not made much progress vis-à-vis Burn Standard, whose production quality is reportedly better. Sengupta said the refractory unit of the loss-making company at Salem, Tamil Nadu, may be taken over by SAIL. “I have spoken to SAIL officials on this and expect them to move on this issue.”

The BRPSE chairman, who is a former Trinamul MP, believes the wagon units can turn around and said “they actually make operating profits and hence are a good fit for the railways”.

Burn Standard has a paid-up capital of Rs 107 crore but is saddled with accumulated losses of nearly Rs 500 crore. The two Bengal-based plants make various kinds of railway rolling stock, including milk tankers and specialised alumina wagons.

It came into being with the merger of the Biren Mukherjee family-owned Burn & Co Ltd and Indian Standard Wagon Co Ltd after their nationalisation in April, 1975.

In 1987, Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Ltd was set up as a holding company, and it brought Burn Standard and six other engineering companies, based in east India, under its wing.

However years of neglect and a lack of capital for modernisation saw the firm turning sick 15 years ago.

Besides the Bengal wagon making units and the Salem refractory, Burn Standard also runs an entity called Central Project Division for the handling of ash and coal and supply of spares. The wagon unit in Howrah is over 16.17 hectares with covered accommodation of 80,215 square metres. The Burnpur unit is over 21 hectares with covered area of about 45,000 square metres.

In the past, because of its real estate, the firm attracted suitors, including jute baron Arun Kumar Bajoria.

However, stiff opposition from the Trinamul Congress and the Left parties besides the suitors’ demands that all loans be written off saw the sales getting deferred.