The much awaited takeover of the profit-making Palakkad unit of Central public sector enterprise Instrumentation Limited by the Kerala government has run into rough weather with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) State unit and party’s trade union wing Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) coming out strongly against the move. Party State general secretary K. Surendran has said that the takeover will be detrimental to the interests of the workforce. BJP State president Kummanam Rajasekharan had already approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking steps to retain it as a Central PSU, he said. He has also urged M.B. Rajesh, MP, to join hands with them. BMS district unit has also raised the same demand.
According to Mr. Surendran, there was a dubious motive behind the demand by Mr. Rajesh and former Congress MP V.S. Vijayaraghavan to takeover the company by the State government. “The unit has 136 acres of land and the State government wants the entire assets for ₹16 crore,” he said in a press conference here.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rajesh has said that only an immediate takeover will help the company retain its performance against stiff competition in the market of control valves and allied instruments. The State decided in favour of the takeover after the Union government told it to do so in response to the demand by most of the employees, he said.
Earlier, the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises had claimed that it decided to pass the baton to the State government after failing to find a suitable option to retain it as a Central PSU. It was in continuation of a letter from Union Minister Anant G. Geete that the previous UDF government had responded, favouring the takeover.
Before urging the State to take over the PSU, the Centre had probed options, including a joint venture, PPP model and merger with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, to keep the Palakkad unit functional.
The Palakkad unit has 320 staff members. The matter of contention now is the need for ₹40 crore to clear pending salary arrears of the staff.
