HYDERABAD: Set up 37 years ago in the then Medak constituency, represented by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the Lok Sabha, the Ordnance Factory Medak, where infantry combat vehicles are manufactured, is set for a makeover. It will become part of one of the seven defence companies which will be dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. The PM will also address the employees during the virtual ceremony from DRDO Bhavan in New Delhi.
While retaining the name Ordnance Factory Medak, it would be called a unit of Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVNL), Chennai. This follows a rejig of all the 41 factories under the Ordnance Factory Board and grouped under seven different companies. Under AVNL, four ordnance factories — Ordnance Factory, Medak, Heavy Vehicle Factory, Avadi, Machine Tool Prototype Factory, Ambarnath and Vehicle Factory, Jabalpur — have been grouped.
Nearly 70,000 employees of all ordnance factories across the country had opposed the rejig as they had fears that they would be removed from employment. However, they were assured that they would only be allocated to new companies.
“But, a lot is going to change. The companies will now have to operate in a corporate way making their own profits and sustain,” an official said. This would also mean that apart from having to bag orders from the government and other security agencies, they would also have to market their products abroad and sell them.
Ordnance Factory, Medak, for instance, has been manufacturing mine-proof and bullet-proof vehicles. The armoured vehicles are being used by the Indian armed forces. The new defence companies would now have to make their own pitches to bag orders based on quality and other factors.
After restructuring of the Ordnance Factory Board, seven new defence PSUs — Munition India Limited, Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited, Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited, Troops Comforts Limited, Yantra India Limited, India Optel Limited and Gliders India Limited — have been created.
Ordnance Factory, Medak, has been making mine-proof and bullet-proof vehicles. New defence firms would now have to make their own pitches to bag orders based on quality and other factors
