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NEW DELHI: The mammoth Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) will stand dissolved with effect from October 1, with its 41 factories, assets, employees and management being transferred to the seven new public sector units in accordance with the Cabinet decision to corporatize the entity.
The defence ministry order on Tuesday said the name of the seven defence PSUs will be Munitions India Ltd, Armoured Vehicles Nigam Ltd, Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Ltd, Troop Comforts Ltd, Yantra India Ltd, India Optel Ltd and Gliders India Ltd.
The Union Cabinet on June 16 had approved the splitting of the OFB, which has an annual turnover of around Rs 19,000 crore and around 70,000 employees, into the seven 100% government-owned corporate entities to improve its functioning as the main supplier of arms, ammunition and clothing to the armed forces, as was then reported by TOI.
The MoD order said, “The government has decided that all the employees of OFB (Group A, B & C) belonging to the production units and also the identified non-production units… shall be transferred en masse to the new DPSUs on terms of foreign service without any deputation allowance (deemed deputation) initially for a period of two years from the appointed date (October 1).”
Each of the new DPSUs will frame rules and regulations related to service conditions of the absorbed employees, as also “seek an option for permanent absorption from the employees on deemed deputation” to that respective DPSU, within a period of two years, said the order.
As reported earlier, the OFB overhaul is desperately required in the backdrop of the 13-lakh strong Army repeatedly sounding the alarm over the unacceptably high number of accidents, deaths and injuries taking place in the field due to the poor and defective quality of ammunition being supplied for tanks, artillery, air defence and other guns.
With OFB supplying around 90 of the total 163 types of ammunition used by the Army, the force has been reporting at least one accident per week, on an average, over the past several years.
The problems plaguing the OFB range from the high costs of products due to excessive overhead charges to inconsistent quality and huge delays in supplies.
OFB also suffers from an utter lack of innovation and technology development. As per a rough estimate, nearly 75% of the production by OFB units is based on imported technology, say officials.
The defence ministry order on Tuesday said the name of the seven defence PSUs will be Munitions India Ltd, Armoured Vehicles Nigam Ltd, Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Ltd, Troop Comforts Ltd, Yantra India Ltd, India Optel Ltd and Gliders India Ltd.
The Union Cabinet on June 16 had approved the splitting of the OFB, which has an annual turnover of around Rs 19,000 crore and around 70,000 employees, into the seven 100% government-owned corporate entities to improve its functioning as the main supplier of arms, ammunition and clothing to the armed forces, as was then reported by TOI.
The MoD order said, “The government has decided that all the employees of OFB (Group A, B & C) belonging to the production units and also the identified non-production units… shall be transferred en masse to the new DPSUs on terms of foreign service without any deputation allowance (deemed deputation) initially for a period of two years from the appointed date (October 1).”
Each of the new DPSUs will frame rules and regulations related to service conditions of the absorbed employees, as also “seek an option for permanent absorption from the employees on deemed deputation” to that respective DPSU, within a period of two years, said the order.
As reported earlier, the OFB overhaul is desperately required in the backdrop of the 13-lakh strong Army repeatedly sounding the alarm over the unacceptably high number of accidents, deaths and injuries taking place in the field due to the poor and defective quality of ammunition being supplied for tanks, artillery, air defence and other guns.
With OFB supplying around 90 of the total 163 types of ammunition used by the Army, the force has been reporting at least one accident per week, on an average, over the past several years.
The problems plaguing the OFB range from the high costs of products due to excessive overhead charges to inconsistent quality and huge delays in supplies.
OFB also suffers from an utter lack of innovation and technology development. As per a rough estimate, nearly 75% of the production by OFB units is based on imported technology, say officials.
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