Recently, Nandal Finance and Leasing Limited acquired the whole CEL including all of its property for just Rs 260 crore after wiining the questionable bid. While the land belonging to the company alone is estimated to be worth Rs 450 crore.Rambilas, joint secretary, CITU (Sahibabad unit), a CPM affiliated trade union said that the Modi government told media and the world that the company is running in loss while the truth is that the company has been posting profit since 2013.”In the last financial year alone, the company has recorded a Gross Profit of Rs136 crores in 2020-21, added Rambilas, a contemporary to Safdar Hashmi – the iconic theatre artist who was killed by the communal goons in 1989.When asked how the government can show the loss if the company is making a profit, Ramblas replied, “They have only shown the loss-making arm of the PSU.”As per the profile, CEL which was founded in 1974, comes under the Ministry of Science and Technology, works in three sectors:1) Defence – the main arm of the company is dedicated to the defence-related research and supplying electronics items to the DRDO and ISRO2) Solar business – the second wing is dedicated to conducting research in solar technology3) Railway security – the third wing of the company has been working on developing safety measures for the railway called Drishti. Apart from this, the company has also been involved in making bulletproof jackets and reading device called Drishti Nayan for the specially abled.CEL comes among the top 6-7 companies that produce radome for missiles, laser-based Perimeter intruder Detection System (PIDS), piezo-electric generator fuse for Heat-55 for ordnance factories and circulator and isolator for satellite systems in the world.“Despite being very crucial for the defence manufacturing and India’s security concerms, the Modi government has put the PSU on sale…the government has compromised with the national security,” blamed Sanjay Kumar of the CITU.Calling Modi governed real ‘anti-national’, Sanjay said, “First attempt to privatise the CEL was made in 2018 but no bidder had come forward.”“Then after diluting the bidding-clauses, the Modi government invited bid again in 2019 for the second time. Service-clause has been diluted significantly as happened in the case of the Air India sale,” added Sanjay.
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