Talks between OFB and Defence Ministry going on: Defence Production Secretary

Defence Production Secretary Ajay Kumar on Saturday said the senior officials of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) are holding talks with the employee unions of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) over the transformation of the entity into public sector units.

"Discussions are continuously being held by a Committee of very senior officials of MoD with employees federations of OFB," Kumar told reporters here.

He said that the discussions are being held in a "positive and constructive manner" related to the transformation.

"Defence Ministry will engage with OFB employees federation in a positive and constructive manner relating to the corporatisation of OFB. It was also clarified the government isn't proposing to privatise OFB. Any apprehension in this regard is misplaced," said Kumar.

Earlier on Friday, the MoD had clarified that there is no proposal to privatise the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

It said that the government is considering plans to turn the OFBs into public sector units fully owned by the Defence Ministry.

"In continuation of the meeting held on August 14, a Committee of senior officials of Ministry of Defence led by Additional Secretary, Department of Defence Production along with Chairman, Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) once again met the office bearers of the All India Defence Employees Federation, Indian National Defence Workers Federation, Bhartiya Pratiksha Mazdoor Sangh and Confederation of Defence Recognized Association here today on the issue of Strike notice given by them starting with effect from August 20, 2019," the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The Defence Ministry termed the "rumours" that OFB was being planned to be privatised as "misguiding" and with the "intent to mislead the workers."

The OFB consists of forty-one ordnance factories, nine training institutes, three regional marketing centres and four regional controllerates of safety spread all across the country.

Apart from being the world's largest government-operated production organisation, it is also the oldest organisation run by the Government of India with a workforce of around 1.6 lakh.