Ranchi, Oct. 14: The Centre and the Jharkhand government today jointly agreed to bail out Heavy Engineering Corporation Ltd (HEC) by announcing a package of Rs 1,997 crore that would include waiver of various dues and adjustments owed by the ailing company.
Both the Union and state governments gave the commitment in separate affidavits filed before Jharkhand High Court.
However, in return for its largesse, the government made it clear that it intended to resume possession of all surplus land that has remained unutilised by HEC. The land was given under the 1996 deed of conveyance executed by the then Bihar government.
The court asked the state to inform it how much of the outstanding HEC dues would be adjusted in lieu of the land transfer. The next date of hearing has been fixed for January 10, 2005.
The court directed Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) to provide power to the HEC township at the earliest. However, the HEC management will have to provide the required infrastructure to provide electricity in the township area. On settling the outstanding dues of JSEB, the HEC counsel said the public sector could only pay Rs 25 lakh per month. The court ordered HEC to pay Rs 50 lakh for two months to the board initially.
The union in its affidavit today declared that Rs 118.2 crore as statutory dues of employees will be given by the Centre. Besides, Rs 799.36 crore under the head of loans and accrued interest of the union will also be waived. The Centre will finance Rs 100 crore in the head of capital expenditure in phases.
The delayed payment surcharge of Rs 291.37 crore will not be recovered by the state government. Sales tax dues of Rs 14.4 crore will be adjusted against the rent due of Rs 16 crore.
The dues of State Bank of India to the tune of Rs 154.18 crore, which were to be waived by the Jharkhand government under the earlier proposal, will now be adjusted by giving the residences on long-term lease to the employees and former staff members of the public sector unit. These premises will be leased to only those who have been residing in the HEC township since 1995.
The security dues of Rs 66.22 crore incurred by the PSU for the CISF personnel manning the area will be settled by transferring 120 acres of company land for building permanent camps and offices for the CISF personnel.
