Calcutta, May 26: The Union cabinet will soon discuss the restructuring of ailing public sector wagon makers — Burn Standard and Braithwaite.
The department of heavy industries sent its recommendations to the cabinet on May 14 for the transfer of Burn Standard and Braithwaite units to the railways and Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL).
Burn Standard’s two wagon making units at Howrah and Burnpur in Bengal will be transferred to the railways as also Braithwaite’s three units in the state.
The southern refractory unit of Burn Standard in Salem will be taken over by SAIL. The railways and SAIL will take over the units on a clean slate basis, without any liability.
Burn Standard also has seven closed units. The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprise had suggested that the seven units be transferred to Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Ltd (BBUNL). However, Burn Standard’s officers’ union is opposed to the move. The employees have demanded a valuation of the seven closed units before they are handed over to BBUNL.
“We welcome the move of the railways and SAIL to take over the operating units. But we protest handing over the closed ones without a proper valuation,” Anutosh Banerjee, general secretary of the All India Federation of Burn Standard Officers’ Association, said.
Employees of Burn Standard have demanded that their dues be cleared before the seven units are transferred to BBUNL. The workers’ due stands at Rs 160 crore. There had been no pay revision in the last 16 years.
Land held by Burn Standard in the seven units, majority of which is in Bengal, could be worth Rs 350 crore. Burn has about 1,450 employees, while Braithwaite has 600.
The two companies have liabilities worth around Rs 1,400 crore, including accumulated losses and interests on loans.
The employees of the two PSUs are said to have met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and sought his assurance on the payment of dues. Mukherjee hails from Bengal where most of the units of both the companies are located.
In last year’s budget, railway minister Mamata Banerjee had announced that the ailing units of Burn Standard and Braithwaite would be taken over by her ministry. However, the transaction is yet to be completed.
