Ranchi, Aug. 11: Mecon management’s recent transfer order, shifting more than 300 employees from their present places of posting, has evoked mixed response.

While one section of executives justified the order and the voluntary retirement scheme, another group spent hours today at Mecon Executives’ Association (MEA) office discussing the pros and cons of the transfer order.

Executives supporting the transfer and VRS-2003 said nothing can be done about it because rationalisation of manpower tops the company’s priorities. Many offices are likely to down shutters.

Given this scenario, if the management has transferred some employees, then that has to be accepted, or else the affected party should opt for VRS-2003, which offers a good package.

Mecon has 1,160 engineers, 582 executives and 360 non-executives, an inverted pyramid structure, because of the liberal promotion policies pursued in the past, when the it was doing well.

The company started on the wrong foot when the erstwhile Hindustan Steel Limited (HSL) transferred about 529 employees, including 429 non-executives, in 1973 when Mecon India Limited was established as a subsidiary of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).

Mecon became an independent company in 1978. In the late Eighties, its executives decided overwhelmingly in favour of merger with SAIL, but the top management decided otherwise, some executives said. But today, the scenario has changed. With the approval of the Union steel ministry, the management has offered VRS-2003, which provides for ex-gratia equivalent to salary (basic + DA) at the rate of 35 days for every completed year of service and at the rate of 25 days for every balance year of service left until superannuation, which is 58 years.

Till date, only 50 people have applied for VRS, whose deadline expires on August 31. This figure may swell as the deadline approaches as past experiences indicate, sources said. The management’s target for VRS is about 800 employees.

Mecon management has transferred more than 300 employees, which includes 125 from Ranchi, 52 from Calcutta, 31 from Bangalore, 25 from Hyderabad, 21 from Delhi, 24 from Bhilai, 17 from Bokaro, 11 from Rourkela and so on. This cannot be described as “mass transfer”, executives favouring the order and VRS said.

But the other section has reacted sharply to the order, describing it as an arm-twisting tactic to force some of them to accept the VRS if they do not want to leave the city. Reacting to this order, the Calcutta branch office got in touch with MEA office-bearers to lodge its protest and to demand a decisive stand. The Calcutta-based association leaders threatened they will not allow any executive to be transferred out of the city.

Those opposing the transfer also alleged that some sections have been left untouched, thus giving the impression that a “pick-and-choose” policy has guided the transfer list.