Trade unions at the ailing Hindustan Machines Tools
Kalamassery unit and at Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore have not given any
credence to reports in a section of the media that the Finance Ministry had
approved a financial package for FACT and that it had approved the payment of
salary arrears for HMT unit employees.
The media reports quoted Union Minister of State for Consumer
Affairs K. V. Thomas, who claimed that he had received an assurance from
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on these issues.
Mr. Thomas told The Hindu over the phone from Delhi on
Wednesday that the financial package for FACT and the salary arrears for the
HMT unit had been cleared by the Budget Joint Secretary and the Expenditure
Secretary and would have to be approved by the Cabinet.
The trade unions claimed that the Minister had been issuing
unreliable statements over the last year-and-a-half on these issues and there
appeared to be no basis for his most recent assurances, said a spokesman of the
Save FACT Action Committee, which is spearheading a series of protest actions
to secure a revival package for the company approved by the Finance Ministry.
As of now there is no information that the rehabilitation
package, worth more than Rs.900 crore, had been approved by the Finance
Ministry, said the spokesman on Wednesday evening. The financial package for
FACT had not come up before the Union Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, said a
statement issued by the Save FACT Action Committee.
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