OOTY: In the backdrop of speculations that the centre has decided to corporatize the Cordite Factory at Aruvankadu (CFA) near here, which already saw the employees unions organizing demonstrations and stirs, Mr. A. Raja, DMK MP from Nilgiris, has written to the union Defence minister Mr. Rajnath Singh, to drop the proposal in the interest of over thousand employees working in the CFA.
Mr. Raja, in his letter, stated that there are 41 Ordnance factories across the country, which have the unique distinction of over 200 years of experience in defence production. Cordiate Factory at Aruvankadu was started in 1904 by the British government and it still caters to the defence services by manufacturing cordite, an antiquated type of smokeless propellant.
“It is the first smokeless propellant factory in India. It stood first in producing chemical weapons and second in ordnance production. It had served remarkably to a great extent in the Indo-China war in 1962 and 1967 and also in Indo-Pak was in 1965 and 1971. It may be pertinent to mention that its yeoman services during the 1999 Kargil war got accolades from the President of India in Parliament” he noted.
Cordite Factory in Aruvankadu has 1945 permanent employees, including 362 women, more than 200 contractual labourers and also 100 trainees.
It is the only major Central Government establishment in Nilgiris district, Mr. Raja pointed out in urging Mr. Rajnath Singh to give up its decision to corporatize defence manufacturing units including Cordite unit here.
