Days of Tolerating Nonsense is Drawing To A Close
The 80,000 Defence Civilian Employees of 41 Ordnance Factories and 40,000 Contract Employees are on the verge of going on an Indefinite Strike. They have become a bane for the Defence Forces.
In the midst of their preparations for strike naturally articles have been written against Ordnance Factories by Retired defence officers to ensure that Government dies not get pressurized and give in to their u just demands. The Government must go ahead and Corporatize the Ordnance Factories. The Forces are just fed up and no longer willing to put up with.
Also if Government is ready to get pressurized by 40000 of its Factory employees, then now it has to be ready to face 13lacs soldiers, who have to stake their life and fight with the shoddy goods produced by these OFB workers.If might is right then let’s see who wins. Yes the Workers have a Right to Protest then what happens if the same right is exercised by the soldiers?
The OFB Federations in a meeting held with the Secretary(DP) on 28/07/2020 have assured the Government that in case of any threat to the national security they will be with the Armed Forces for protecting the sovereignty and security of the country and the Ordnance Factory workers will work day and night for producing the Defence Equipments.
Today, the three Federations who are leading the agitation against Corporatisation have issued a press statement, in which they have stated the following:-
“The Finance Minister taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic situation announced on behalf of the Government of India that the hitherto state owned 41 Ordnance Factories under the Ministry of Defence will be converted into a Corporation / PSU and thereafter to list it in the Stock Market.
This announcement of the Government was against the previous agreements made in the past by the Government with the Employees and also against the written assurance given by 4 previous Defence Ministers George Fernandez, Pranab Mukharjee, A.K. Antony and Manohar Parikar that Ordnance Factories would not be corporatized since these factories have to remain as War Reserve and also due to the fluctuating requirement of the Armed Forces.
However in violation of all these assurances and agreements the Government has arbitrarily announced Corporatizing the OFB. The Government has further announced that all the Public Sectors would be privatised.
In this situation the 3 Recognized Federations (AIDEF, INDWF and BPMS) have submitted innumerable representations to the President of India, Prime Minister, Defence Minister, Chief of Defence Staff and also to the Chairman of the Defence Parliamentary Standing Committee to reconsider the decision of the Government.
Since the Government is not prepared to listen to the alternative suggestions given by the Federations for improvement of the functioning and performance of Ordnance Factories within the Govt. set up itself.
The Federations left with no other option after taking a Strike Ballot, wherein 99.9% of the employees have mandated for an Indefinite Strike, the Federations have served Strike Notice for an Indefinite Strike commencing from 12-10-2020. “
Well such assurances will no longer work, unless they start working and produce results on ground. In fact some have gone ahead and stated that “ It has become a fashion now-a-days that every day two or three Generals/Brigadiers (Retd.) have been tutored to write some ill conceived articles on the performance of Indian Ordnance Factories with any iota of truth in it. “
The Union leaders should now clearly know that days of old are over. The Forces will not tolerate shoddy work. People in the OFB from DG down to peon have to take responsibility and held accountable. You will perform or get out. The Forces now onwards will leave no stone u turned to fight this menace of shoddy and super over priced goods. OFB should have no doubts left that CONSUMER IS KING, and it is the Defence Forces who are their consumers.
So the TAIL cannot WAG the DOG. Some constipated idiots …..Yes ….such people can only be called as such have gone ahead to even say “These retired Senior Officers of Indian Army, Navy and Air Force tend to forget that every decoration added in their shoulder is also the result of hard-work, dedication of the employees of Indian Ordnance Factories all these years in supplying high quality and precision weaponry, making the Indian Armed Forces to succeed in all the misdemeanours of our adversaries. “.
Constipated friends must know that their counterparts in Pakistan do a 1000 times better job but still the Pakistan Army gets beaten back in spite of the shoddy goods produced by the IOFB.
Any Defence Civilian Employees of Ordnance Factories and their Trade Unions are 100 % unpatriotic If they talk of going on an indefinite strike to achieve their demands. In case of genuine demands they should write to the three Chiefs and the QMG,who will see to it that the demands are met. If they work properly and follow the norms then even the Fauj will be with them, other wise surely NO MORE APOEASEMENT.
So it’s high time the AHQ should make it known to the PM, DM and the public in general with full data and statistics, the kind of defective Ordnance products these OFB have been churning out. There is nothing secret in it.
The quantum of ammunition produced, and percentage of segregation. Further, the large scale damage the rubbish churned out has done to the equipment be it tank guns, 23mm twin gun 81 mm mortar barrels to name a few.
These factories with some of the Workers competing with Sloths of the Amazon forests have been producing substandard products for eons like the jonga, 1 tons, 3 ton shaktimans. And now these people have the audacity to claim 2.5 ton Tata the ALS which these clowns are assembling from Knock down kits as their own.
Almost close to everything is bring outsourced to Private vendors by the managerial cadre of the OFB, many of whom dont even know that the item BEING assembled in their “Factories”. This comes from an Army officer being posted in the so called Exclusive and Elite organisation called the DGQA dealing ex trade.
Thank the Lord Almighty, this elite club part has been largely disbanded. It was so “ honest and in service to the nation in general and the armed forces, mainly the Indian Army in particular “ that a class 2 or 3 ‘Inspector’ of the DGQA on an average had 2-3-4 and some more “ honest and sincere ones” even 5 flats in Bombay and Pune.
So in reply to the strike call, the Govt should give a legal notice, declare lock out and finally cashier all of them. It will be a great boon to the Nation in general and the Defence Services in particular. The Forces now will have none of the nonsense and are ready to fight back tooth and nail.
