THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The issues at the city’s own missile firm are hotting up again. The INTUC-led employees union has again demanded urgent the intervention of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to solve the controversies surrounding the BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Ltd (BATL).The BrahMos Staff Association petitioned the Chief Minister on Monday saying that the barely three-year-old firm was heading towards disaster.According to the association, when state-owned Kerala Hi-tech Industries Ltd (Keltec) was handed over for establishing BATL, the company was in profit for three consecutive years and it had a cash balance of Rs 7 crore as well as work orders to the tune of Rs 70 crore.The only reason that the firm has registered a loss of Rs 3.5 crore was due to corruption and inefficiency on the part of the management, M V Sreedharan Nair, working president of BrahMos Staff Association, said in a statement.According to him, neither the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) nor the parent company BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd (BAPL) has spent even a rupee on developing the firm.The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had invested Rs 25 crore. The management’s claim that Rs 125 crore has been invested is baseless, Sreedharan Nair said.A joint initiative of Union Defence Minister A K Antony and the then state industries minister Elamaram Kareem, Keltec was handed over for a token Re 1.
Comments
0 comment