Centre to offload two Instrumentation units in Kerala, Rajasthan

Kota unit has around 500 employees, Palakkad unit has over 300 employees

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved a proposal to shut down the loss-making Kota unit of Instrumentation Ltd and hand over the company’s Palakkad division to the Kerala government.

“The Cabinet has approved attractive voluntary retirement or voluntary separation scheme (VRS or VSS) package at 2007 notional pay scales to employees of Kota Unit of Instrumentation Ltd, including the payment of pending salary, statutory dues etc, which amount to approximately Rs 438 crore," an official statement said.

While the Kota unit of Instrumentation has been in the red for many years, Palakkad's has been making profit. "While the Kota unit has around 500 employees, the Palakkad unit has over 300 employees," a senior government official told PTI.

Union Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete had earlier written to the governments of Rajasthan and Kerala, requesting them to take over the units.

Employees of the Palakkad entity had been demanding that the Centre either delink it from its loss-making mother unit in Kota or merge with a profit-making public sector undertaking (PSU).

In February, the government had approved hiving off profit-making Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Ltd (REIL) from its parent company Instrumentation Ltd and turning it into an independent central public sector enterprise (CPSE) under the Department of Heavy Industry.

REIL was a joint venture between Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO) and Instrumentation Ltd, Kota, with 49 per cent and 51 per cent ownership, respectively.