KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress (TMC) raised its voice against the Centre protesting against the latter's decision to close down the electrical unit of the heavy engineering PSU Andrew Yule & Company's at Mayurbhanj area in South Kolkata.
Reacting sharply over the direction, Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy said: "It is nothing but an anti-people move of the Centre. This is how they are depriving the people of Bengal. Instead of taking necessary steps to run the PSUs properly, the same were being shut down. This cannot be the policy of a government."
Though the closure process is subject to approvals from the concerned authorities and likely to take two months time, sources said that it had been decided to shut down the Kolkata electrical manufacturing unit as it was making losses and operations were not viable at a recent board meeting.
However, operation of its Chennai unit will continue.
There are around 250 workers engaged at the electrical division. They are mainly involved in the production process of transformers and switchgears. Funds for the schemes would be raised from internal resources.
The development comes within a month after the news of dismantling of the Kolkata-based Raw Materials Division (RMD) of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) came to light. Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra had written to Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan stating that dismantling of the division will lead to job losses for scores as it would turn the public-sector steelmaker's iconic Durgapur and Burnpur Integrated steel plants unviable.
In his second letter within two days on June 18, Mitra again wrote to Pradhan raising apprehension that the BJP Government would shift headquarters of four more iconic institutions of the Central government outside Kolkata.