Ranchi: Employees of state-owned Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) Ltd in Ranchi held a protest rally on Saturday over non-payment of their salaries. The employees, who have been protesting since November 3, alleged that over 3,000 staff of the public sector undertaking (PSU) have not been paid their salaries for at least 10 months. Banging utensils and raising slogans, the protesters walked in a march from Dhurwa Golchakkar to HEC headquarters under the banner of 'Matri Udyog HEC Bachao'.
The local shopkeepers also took part in the protest march. Khijri Congress MLA Rajesh Kachhap also participated in the agitation. "To protect HEC, we will soon hold a meeting with Chief Minister Hemant Soren. We will discuss that if the Centre is not interested to run the company, whether the state government can take over the operations as it is the pride of Jharkhand," he said.
"Families of over 3,000 employees, including officers and engineers, of the PSU have been directly affected due to the non-payment of salaries. Local businesses, including shops, have also been affected as their sale went down. We request the Centre to revive the company, which has huge contribution in nation building," said Subhash Chandra, an engineer.
A senior HEC official said they are working to resolve the situation.
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