PALAKKAD: Employees of ITI Ltd, the central public sector undertaking that manufactures critical components for ISRO and the Army, have not been paid salaries for the last three months. Though the Palakkad unit was promised wages for Onam, they never materialised. “We do not even have working capital for day-to-day functioning,” said S B Raju, president of the ITI Employees’ Union.
“BSNL and MTNL, which also come under the ministry of communications, post the most losses. Yet their employees continue to get salaries on time, thanks to revival packages. Moreover, our employees’ salaries are still based on the 1997 scale, while BSNL and MTNL staffers are getting theirs based on the 2007 scale. At the Palakkad plant, 150 of the 180 regular employees are engineers and officers,” he said.
“After the successful launch of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, CMD Rakesh Agarwal addressed employees of the Palakkad unit through video conferencing and congratulated them,” said Raju.
The company provides BharatNet broadband services to villages in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and the Andaman islands. The Palakkad unit has been entrusted with Tamil Nadu and the Andamans. ITI is also engaged in executing the Rs 7,000-crore Army Static Switched Communication Network (ASCON) in the border areas, said G Anil Kumar, general secretary of the ITI Officers’ Association.
ITI was sanctioned a Rs 4,156-crore revival package in 2014, of which Rs 2,264 crore was spent on capex (capital expenditure). The remaining amount was utilised to clear statutory dues, pending employee benefits and give VRS to employees.
“Of the Rs 2,264 crore, Rs 946 crore was spent on purchasing machinery. The balance is still with the department of telecommunications which, if released, can be used as working capital. However, latest machinery is working at only 10% capacity due to lack of working capital,” said Anil Kumar.
Moreover, the company had land near Hosur, in Bengaluru, which was handed over to the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT).
“The company has received no rent. The land is worth around Rs 1,500 crore and ITI has sought Rs 1,000 crore. CDOT, a central government-owned research organisation, is demanding that the land and buildings be handed over for Rs 150 crore, which ITI has not agreed to. The matter is now under the consideration of the Administrative Mechanism for Resolution of CPSEs Disputes (AMRCD) committee, said Anil Kumar.
He added the Palakkad unit has always taken the initiative to diversify, developing products such as micro PCs, solar UPS, video cameras, exam management solutions for Kerala and Calicut universities and smart driving licences.
“The Palakkad unit is in financial trouble. We are getting orders but much more is needed for optimum functioning. We supply components to VSSC, laptops of unmatched standards, mini PCs, solar power modules, and HDPE pipes. We hope to overcome the hiccups soon and are working towards it,” said K V Nagaraj, general manager of the unit.
Raju said he received a communique regarding a corporate management apex meeting has been convened in Lucknow on September 23. Representatives of employees have also been invited in the wake of the present crisis, he added.
PSU WITH WIDE PRESENCE
ITI Ltd falls under the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of ommunications
Corporate office: Bengaluru
Units: Naini, Raebareli, Mankapur (all in UP), Palakkad (Kerala), and Srinagar (J&K)
1,920 Total number of employees
PACKING A PUNCH
1976 ITI’s Palakkad unit is set up
It has 180 permanent and 120 contract workers
The unit has been actively supporting ISRO’s space mission since 2010. It supplied 23 remote mounting safe arms (RMSAs) for the retro rocket ignition of the Chandrayaan-3 mission and a similar number of RMSAs for the more recent Aditya L1 Sun mission.
PAIN POINT
L300 cr Consolidated loss posted by ITI Ltd in 2022-23 financial year. It had registered profits in the five years preceding it
REVIVAL PACKAGE
ITI was sanctioned a Rs 4,156-crore revival package in 2014, of which Rs 2,264 crore was spent on capex (capital expenditure). The remaining amount was utilised to clear statutory dues, pending employee benefits and give VRS to employees.