Ranchi: When the whole country is rejoicing over the successful launch of Chandrayaan 3 mission and Suryayaan mission Aditya L-1, the engineers of steel behemoth Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) in Jharkhand's Ranchi who played an important role in manufacturing these launching pads for ISRO have not been paid their salaries for the past 20 months.
With all their hopes stonewalled, the engineers are contemplating seeking an audience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Some of these aggrieved engineers while talking to ETV Bharat, said that they were feeling proud for being a part of the ISRO project in making launch pads but at the same time were disappointed that their pleas have gone unheard.
"Non-payment of salary for the past 20 months has made our lives tough. Finding no solution to the problem, we have decided to meet the Prime Minister," said an HEC engineer, adding, "We feel proud that our efforts in making lunch pads for Chandrayaan-3 and Suryayaan Aditya L-1 helped in making both the missions successful. But the ground reality is that no one is listening to our woes. Nonetheless, my greetings to the engineers of HEC, ISRO scientists, and engineers for their successful launch of the Aditya L-1."
Also read: Jharkhand connection to Chandrayaan-3: Three companies played big role
"We should not focus on what was the role of HEC in the manufacturing of launch pads. Instead, we should talk about what role the HEC played in nation-building since 1962. Almost 70 per cent of machinery (capital goods machinery) was made by HEC while setting up a SAIL unit or use of heavy machines for mining purposes.
Similarly, the contribution of HEC in defense and space technology is immense. There are several firsts credited to this PSU giant. So, HEC's achievements cannot be confined to making just launching pads. But the irony is that three thousand employees of the company are without salary for the past twenty months," said another aggrieved HEC engineer.
