Rajnath Singh meets Defence Civilian Employees' Federations over OFB Corporatisation issue

Minister of Defence of India Rajnath Singh held an interaction with the three recognised Defence Civilian Employees' Federations, namely All India Defence Employees' Federation, Indian National Defence Workers' Federation & Bhartiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh on the issues related to Corporatisation of Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) in New Delhi on July 16, 2021. The meeting was conducted in a very congenial atmosphere, in which the Raksha Mantri gave patient hearing to the concerns expressed by the Federations on OFB Corporatisation.

The Federations stated various points, mainly seeking a last chance to improve OFB performance while continuing in the present set-up for some more years; the Essential Defence Services Ordinance 2021 not to be converted into an Act; protecting the service conditions of the OFB employees post-corporatisation and ensuring work load for the new corporate entities.

Secretary (Defence Production) Raj Kumar clarified that the new Corporate entities would be 100% Government owned and suggested that further discussions with the employees' representatives should continue with the Department to identify specific issues, which can be brought before the Empowered Group of Ministers from time to time.

Rajnath Singh assured that the interests of the employees would be protected while implementing the decision of OFB corporatisation. He appealed to the Federations to continue discussions with the Department and issues, if any, would be considered sympathetically by the Empowered Group of Ministers under his Chairmanship.