The 39 Ordnance Clothing Factories (OCF) functioning in the country will not be privatised, said S.D. Dimri, Director General of Ordnance Factories and Chairman, here on Saturday.
Participating in the golden jubilee celebrations of the OCF, Avadi, Mr. Dimri said in the last couple of years 16,000 employees were recruited by the Ordnance Factory Board. Another 25,000 to 30,000 people would be recruited in the next five to six years.
“There is no pressure to privatise the OCFs,” he said in response to apprehensions raised by unions.
There was huge growth potential for the Cloth Factories as the Ordnance Board had acquired orders to the tune of Rs.50,000 crore for all its factories in the next five years. Ordnance Factories were coming up with several new products required for the Defence Services, he said.
Already, the Ordnance Factories have indigenously made a Howitzer gun, which s an improvised one with a range of 40 km. The range of earlier procured ones was 27 km.
Two of the newly created guns would be ready by March next year and it would be handed over to the Army. Similarly, another two would be ready by December next year and in June 2013 another two improvised guns would be ready, which also would be handed over to the Army.
Two more new ordnance factories would come up in Nalandha in Bihar and Korba in Uttar Pradesh, he added.
On the occasion Mr. Dimri inaugurated a golden jubilee arch and a tower was inaugurated at the factory premises.
