As many as 3,400 employees and officers of Jharkhand’s Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC), who are engaged in preparing a robust launching pad for the flight of Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) landmark projects such as Chandrayaan-3 and Gaganyaan, are going through a financial strain as they have not been paid their monthly salaries for the past 13 months.
While the technical workers employed with HEC have not been paid monthly salaries for the last seven to eight months. Dozens of HEC engineers in groups have been protesting for the last 40 days outside HEC’s headquarters at Dhurva, Ranchi, demanding payment of their salaries while on the other hand, they have also been racing against time to complete their work assignment of supplying all the heavy machinery required for the flight of Chandrayaan-3 and Gaganyaan missions.
HEC is the oldest and premier engineering institute in the country and has earned the reputation of being known as the “Mother of All Industries”.
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An HEC official said that recently the basic structure of the second launchpad has been supplied for the Gaganyaan project.
As many as four different types of cranes, folding-cum-vertically repositionable platforms, sliding doors, mobile launching pedestals, vertical turning, and boring machines including other equipment have been delivered now for the Gaganyaan project.
Apart from this, the commissioning of several heavy machines is in the final stage. The manufacturing of equipment like wheel bogie
assembly and folding platform have been completed and will be supplied to ISRO soon.
It was also a big challenge to transport these instruments weighing hundreds of tonnes made at the HEC to Sriharikota station of ISRO, but it was successfully completed.
To ensure that the satellite rocket does not move, a crane built by HEC has been installed at a height of 80 meters.
The HEC has requested the Ministry of Heavy Industries several times to provide it with working capital of Rs 1,000 crore, but the Ministry has already made it clear that the Union government cannot help the factory in any way. The company’s management has to stand on its own feet, the government says.
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On Saturday, all anti-BJP parties marched to the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi, demanding the saving of the HEC.
Hundreds of workers from the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (M-L), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Rashtriya Janata Dal, and the Congress staged a protest against the ruling BJP government at the Centre in Ranchi to save HEC.
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