HEC Employees Stage Protest, Demand Salary Clearance and PSU Revival in Ranchi

Near the BJP state headquarters on Ranchi's Harmu Road, more than a thousand workers of the struggling Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) Limited protested, calling for the Centre to step in and help the PSU get back on its feet and pay its outstanding salary.

Under the auspices of HEC Bachao Majdoor Jan Sangarsh Samity, HEC employees and officials launched an agitation at the BJP office at about 11 a.m. and persisted in chanting slogans and sitting at the party office till 1.30 p.m.

"We had let the BJP leaders know about our demonstration. However, there was no senior official in the office, so we had to go back and give our message to the office gatekeeper. We previously met Union heavy industries minister Sanjay Seth, a member of the BJP from Ranchi, with him last year. Chief of HEC Majdoor Union Bhawan Singh said, "We urge the BJP MPs in the state to bring up our concerns with the federal government so that our unpaid wages are paid and the business is revitalized.

In addition, Bhawan Singh threatened to lock up every BJP MLA's home if they didn't bring up their concerns with the Central government.

"On HEC property are the MLAs' quarters and the secretariat. We shall be forced to stage protests in front of the MLA residences and lock them from the outside if they (the BJP MLAs) fail to bring up our concerns with the Central government. Police action is not something we are frightened of," Singh said.

The letter that was sent in to the BJP office highlights HEC's involvement in both the Aditya L1 solar project of Isro and Chandrayaan-3. It further asserts that HEC was responsible for building the launchpad for the Aditya project. The letter describes HEC's involvement in the establishment of SAIL's operations in Bhilai, Rourkela, Bokaro, and Salem, the steel giant.

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