The Hindu Business Line : ICRA report on BHPV to be ready by tomorrow

Visakhapatnam, Feb. 13 The valuation report on Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels (BHPV), being prepared by ICRA, will be ready by Friday and the subsequent steps to make the unit a subsidiary of the BHEL will follow, according to Ms Kanti Singh, Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

She was speaking to the press here on Wednesday after reviewing the performance of the BHPV along with the Managing Director, Mr Om Prakash. She said the Union Cabinet had given in-principle approval for making BHPV a subsidiary of BHEL. “The State Government on its part has agreed to waive the dues and gift the land and we are thankful for that. We are committed to reviving BHPV and other ailing PSUs,” she said.

She said BHPV had shown remarkable progress during the past four years. She said she could not fix a time frame for the BHEL-BHPV merger. “We are committed to it. It will be done in the near future. The ICRA report will be ready by Friday and then the other steps will follow,” she said.

Mr Om Prakash, Managing Director, said BHPV had reduced its net losses from Rs 71.38 crore in 2005-2006 to Rs 34.70 crore in 2006-2007. The turnover had risen from Rs 122.05 crore to Rs 180 crore. “At present, we have orders worth Rs 240 crore on hand. We are meeting the salary bill, amounting to Rs 1.9 crore per month, on our own. The company is in a much better shape than ever,” he said.

The BHPV Mazdoor Sangh, the recognised union, urged the minister to expedite the process of the unit’s merger with BHEL. “Wage revision has been pending for more than a decade. The staff is finding it difficult to survive with the old salaries,” the union leaders Mr Ch. Muni Babu and Mr G. Dhanaraju, submitted in their memorandum to the Minister.

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