Ranchi: The recommendation to shut down the Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC), a prestigious public sector undertaking based in Ranchi, and the Centre’s decision to seek a detailed report from the concerned ministry, have triggered widespread anger among workers’ unions, employees, and technical experts.
Unions allege that the government is systematically weakening strategic public sector enterprises to hand them over to private corporate interests.
CITU president Bhavan Singh stated that citing seven years of losses to declare HEC as “non-performing” is misleading. According to him, these losses are not due to market failure but are the direct result of policies that withheld capital investment, blocked modernization funds, and denied new contracts and project allocations.
Current Status of HEC
From 2018–19 to 2024–25, HEC was continuously pushed into losses amounting to:
₹33.67 crore, ₹405.37 crore, ₹175.78 crore,
₹256.07 crore, ₹230.85 crore, ₹275.19
crore and ₹265.13 crore, respectively.
Experts argue that these losses escalated because the Centre—
halted capital investment,
delayed essential modernization,
withheld payments worth ₹4,300 crore for completed project work,
and denied new contracts in the sectors of heavy engineering, space, defence and mining.
As a result, HEC’s production capacity, technological capability, and competitiveness declined sharply.
Unions Accuse Government of Creating an “Artificial Crisis”
Workers’ unions claim that the government first crippled HEC deliberately, and is now using the manufactured crisis as a justification for shutting it down.
According to them, this move is:
anti-worker,
anti-industry,
and a direct attack on India’s strategic industrial strength.
Allegations on Government Intent
Unions say that policy decisions clearly indicate that:
public sector undertakings are being weakened to make them easy targets for private corporates,
strategic industrial capacities—such as heavy engineering, defence, and space—are being shifted into private hands,
and states like Jharkhand are being pushed towards industrial and economic instability.
Workers’ Key Demands
1. Immediate halt to any process related to shutting down HEC.
2. Restoration of the SBI bank guarantee cancelled earlier.
3. Allocation of new orders, modernization funds and a technological upgradation package.
4. Reinstatement of a strong public sector policy, restoring PSU roles in nation-building.
5. Protection of livelihoods of workers, engineers and technical staff, with no layoffs or disinvestment
Major Impact on Jharkhand’s Economy
The possibility of HEC’s closure has raised serious concerns among thousands of families, as the PSU is a cornerstone of Jharkhand’s industrial and employment structure.
Unions have warned the government that the privatization or closure of HEC will not be accepted under any circumstances, and the protest movement will be intensified.
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