BEML agitation to enter 1,000th day on Thursday

The agitation against the Union government’s move to sell profit-making public sector enterprise Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) will enter the 1,000^th day on Thursday.

The Centre has ignored the agitation as well as the repeated pleas by the State government against the decision to privatise the PSE that functions under the Ministry of Defence, according to the protestors. BEML makes several vehicles, including personnel vehicles for the military, which had played a notable role in taking the country to victory in the Kargil War.

Employees at BEML units at Kanjikode, Kolar, Mysuru, and Bengaluru have been on an agitation since January 6, 2021. It was on January 4, 2021, that the Union government invited letters of interest for selling the PSE.

The employees have been demanding that the Union government withdraw from the move to privatise BEML considering the company’s role in the country’s security and defence. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the MLAs and MPs from Kerala too wrote to the government with the demand.

BEML employees under the banner of the CITU had sent one lakh memorandums to the President and the Prime Minister seeking their intervention against the sell-off. Largescale protests were organised involving the public; a human wall was built in protest; a people’s court was held; and several means of protests were taken out. But the government appears to be hell bent on selling off the PSE.

It was in 1964 that the government launched BEML with a capital investment of ₹23.56 crore. Employees say that it was because of their dedication over the last five decades that BEML’s share value rose from ₹10 to ₹2,300.

They pointed out that BEML would fetch anything above ₹50,000 crore in current market value. The government could so far get ₹400 crore in dividends. Besides, the employees pointed out that the company helps the government earn a revenue of ₹700 crore a year by way of tax.

BEML wins 85% of its orders by taking part in global tenders. The company had made a profit of ₹278 crore in 2022-23 fiscal. Apart from military vehicles, BEML manufactures metro coaches and vehicles used in coal industry.

CITU district vice president E.N. Suresh Babu will inaugurate the 1,000^th day’s protest programmes in front of the company at Kanjikode on Thursday afternoon. Representatives of different trade unions will attend the function.