NAGPUR: Amid government plan to convert ordnance factories into public corporations on the grounds that the current structure keeps it inefficient, the Army is planning to place an order of 3,500 7.62mm MAG guns with the Small Arms Factory (SAF) at Kanpur. There are 41 factories in different parts of the country coming under the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), the governing body, which is based in Kolkata.

This is the biggest ever order for the Kanpur factory. It has raised hopes of workers in times of concern among unions over corporatisation of the OFB. MAG guns are a type of medium machine guns mounted on armoured vehicles. The weapon can fire 650 to 1,000 bullets in a minute and has a range of 1,800 meters.

So far, the factory has not got an order to make more than 500 7.62 MAG guns in a year. Union sources said that currently the Army has just sent a communication of intent to place an order. “A final order has to be placed so that the resources can be mobilized. The order will keep the factory busy for the next five years,” a source said. Orders to the factory have come down considerably after the army stopped indents for INSAS rifles the standard issue weapon for the soldiers. Majority of the orders are for the paramilitary forces.

Senior officials in the OFB are hopeful about a final order as the “Army is keen to get the weapon system”. Sources said the Army had stopped procuring the guns in 2003 but revived it two years later. Now, this major order is on the anvil.

Meanwhile, the government has set up a high-level committee on changing the OFB’s constitution from a government department to public sector undertaking (PSU). The committee’s terms of reference are to work out ways to protect interests of employees due to converting into a PSU.

The committee will also assess the need of budgetary support towards payment of salaries after corporatisation. It will work out ways towards achieving a turnover of Rs30,000 crore and examine viability of certain factories as a PSU.

(BPMS), a RSS affiliated union operating in OFs, has expressed concern over the committee’s terms of reference.

In reaction to the move, BPMS general secretary Mukesh Singh said, “Under the modernization process, government is signing new contracts, but due to financial crunch it is difficult to pay for past contracts. In such a situation, ordnance factories will not be given proper workload. The OFB has to maintain its capacity to provide life long service support for its products.”

He added that the factories suffer from fluctuation in workloads. “Sometimes the demand for a certain product is exceptionally high and then it drops down to zero. This creates a financial bottleneck. With such issues dogging the functioning, no corporation may be able to survive and it will ultimately affect its ability to pay wages.”