Despite the successful launch of the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission on July 14, the engineers responsible for building the launch pad have allegedly been deprived of their salaries for more than a year.
According to a report by the news agency IANS, the engineers working for the Ranchi-based Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) had gone 17 months without pay.
Nevertheless, despite the problem of unpaid salaries, HEC was able to deliver the mobile launching pad and other crucial and complex equipment ahead of schedule in December 2022.
HEC, a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Heavy Industries, is situated in Ranchi’s Dhurwa area.
Several media outlets have previously highlighted the non-payment of salaries to the company’s staff for an extended period.
Around 2,700 employees and 450 executives were not paid for the previous 14 months, Frontline revealed in May.
IANS reported in November 2022 that the company’s officers had missed out on a year’s worth of pay while employees faced an eight-to-nine month delay.
Due to a lack of funding, the company reportedly had trouble completing 80 per cent of its contracts worth Rs. 1,500 Crore from important organisations like the Indian Space Research Organisation, the Ministry of Defense, Railways, Coal India, and the steel industry.
Despite the salary crisis, the engineers proudly celebrated the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3. Subhash Chandra, one of the engineers, expressed happiness about contributing to such a crucial national project.
IANS’ sources claim that HEC repeatedly contacted the Ministry of Heavy Industries to ask for a working capital of Rs. 1,000 Crore. But according to the Ministry’s statement, there was nothing the Union Government could do to help.
The company’s difficulties have been made worse by the absence of a Chief Managing Director (CMD) for the past 2.5 years.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission was accomplished with a budget of approximately Rs. 600 Crore.