Will safeguard retirement benefits of OFB staff: Govt

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, September 19

The government on Saturday told the Rajya Sabha that an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) had been constituted to guide the entire process of corporatisation of Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), including transition support and redeployment plan of employees while safeguarding their wages and retirement benefits. The Minister of Defence, Rajnath Singh, heads the EGoM.

On Saturday, the House had two separate listed questions on the proposed corporatisation of the OFB that has 41 factories under it.

The Ministry of Defence, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, stated that the government had taken note of the strike notice from the three recognised Federations of Defence Civilian Employees, proposing to call an indefinite strike from October 12 against the government’s move to corporatise the OFB.

The Cabinet Committee on Security, at its meeting on July 29 this year, approved to convert the OFB, a subordinate office of the Ministry of Defence, into one or more than one 100 per cent government-owned corporate entities, registered under the Companies Act, 2013. The corporatisation of the OFB will improve its autonomy, accountability and efficiency in Ordnance Supplies.

On the issue of corporatisation of the OFB, the Department of Defence Production has been engaging with the Federations and Associations of Ordnance Factories for their views on the said transformation.

EGoM set up

The government on Saturday told the Rajya Sabha that an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) has been constituted to guide the entire process of corporatisation of Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).