Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said here on Tuesday that the operations of Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT) were under the Centre’s observation and that steps would be taken to strengthen the company.
He was speaking to a delegation of trade union leaders, who submitted a memorandum to the Minister. The memorandum was submitted in the background of a NITI Aayog proposal for strategic sale of the public sector company’s shares.
The Minister, who was at FACT to inaugurate the International Yoga Day celebrations, interacted with trade union leaders after receiving the memorandum. The memorandum highlighted the company’s strengths. The company once had as many as 12,000 employees. The number has now been slashed to around 3,000 and measures would be taken to strengthen the unit, the Minister was cited as saying in a press release issued by the trade unions.
The Minister assured the delegation that the anxieties expressed by the team would be conveyed to the Union government. He also said that the government would consider providing more help to FACT under its ‘Make in India’ programme.
He also praised the role played by the chairman and managing director of FACT Jaiveer Srivastava, who was present at the meeting with the trade union leaders. Mr. Srivastava, who has been at the helm of affairs at FACT, said that the company had a great tradition of promoting arts and sports and would do its best to promote yoga.
The delegation that met the Minister on Tuesday included district president of the Bharatiya Janata Party N.K. Mohandas and members of the Save FACT Action Committee including V.A. Nazar, George Thomas, M.T. Shivashankaran and K. Radhakrishnan Nair.
