PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun
The employee unions of the ordnance factories have reiterated their demand that the Union government should issue a formal notification mentioning that all employees sent on deputation to the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) will continue to remain its employees till their retirement.
The four employee unions, the All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF), Indian National Defence Workers Federation (INDWF), Bharatiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh (BPMS) and Confederation of Defence Recognised Associations (CDRA) have decided to boycott the proposed merger committee set up by the Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVNL), which is one of the seven DPSUs of the country.
In 2021, the government of India had decided to convert 41 ordnance factories in the country into seven DPSUs.
The national secretary of INDWF, Neeraj Tyagi said the government had mandated that the new DPSUs must frame an HR policy and absorption package which should be at par with the terms and conditions that the employees currently enjoy as Central government employees. After absorption in new entities the employees were given a two-year deemed deputation which was later extended for two more years. This period will end on December 31, 2025.
On July 14, 2025, the ministry of Defence instructed all seven DPSUs to proceed with the HR policy they have developed and initiate discussions with federations/unions on the absorption packages. Following this directive, one DPSU, the AVNL, has proposed to constitute a committee to deliberate on the absorption process. Tyagi said that this step by the AVNL has elicited opposition from the employees and all the four federations and a decision to boycott the committee on absorption has been taken.
Our sole demand is that the government must publish a formal notification stating that employees on deemed deputation in the seven DPSUs will retain their status as Central government employees until retirement, he said. Tyagi said that there are more than 62,000 employees working in DPSUs.
