Burn Standard upbeat on takeover proposal by Railways

Kolkata, July 3 : State-owned railway equipment manufacturer Burn Standard is hoping for a new lease of life following Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee's announcement that her ministry would speed up the process of taking over the ailing company's wagon units.

"We are happy with the declaration. We hope something positive works out. Lalu Prasad Yadav (former railways minister) also took up this issue in his interim budget speech," Burn Standard's Howrah unit general manager Anindya Das said.

Saying this was an opportunity for the company to prove its mettle, Das added: "We hope we can prove ourselves to the railways."

A subsidiary of Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam, which designs and manufactures capital goods and executes turnkey projects, Burn Standard comes under the department of heavy industries.

The company has over 10 manufacturing units spread across West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

In West Bengal, it has units in Howrah, Burnpur and Jellingham.

Banerjee said talks have already started with the department of heavy industries and necessary steps would be taken for debt waiver for Burn Standard, which will also be given orders for wagon manufacturing.

"We want this takeover to happen soon so that we can start manufacturing more wagons," said Bamapada Mukherjee, a union leader at the company's Burnpur unit.

Burn Standard manufactures wagons, railway rolling stock, couplers and draft gears, steel castings, pressings, forgings, bridge girders, structurals, sleepers, points and crossings and wagon components.

--IANS