Pahalgam attack: Twenty-six people, mostly tourists, were killed and several were injured when terrorists opened fire at a meadow near the popular tourist town of Pahalgam in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on April 22.
Amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack, ordnance manufacturing companies have cancelled long leaves of their employees to ensure uninterrupted production and preparedness.
It is pertinent to mention that relations between India and Pakistan plummeted after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 26 people, mostly tourists, marking the deadliest assault in the Valley since the 2019 Pulwama incident.
Ordnance factory in Jabalpur cancels long leaves
Leaves of more than two days for officers and employees at the Ordnance Factory Khamaria (OFK) in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh have been cancelled. The cancellation of extended leaves has been attributed to efforts to meet critical production targets.
The Jabalpur Ordnance Factory, employing about 4,000 people, is one of the biggest units of Munitions India Limited (MIL) which provides ammunition to the Indian armed forces.
“The leave of more than two days of officers and employees has been cancelled with immediate effect to meet the production target,” OFK PRO Avinash Shankar confirmed to news agency PTI over phone.
“Since our target of this fiscal is huge and in April, we haven’t achieved our desired target, therefore, to compensate for it we have been directed by the HQ to cancel leave so that we have sufficient workforce and supervision,” the PRO added.
Leaves of employees at the ordnance factory in Maharashtra cancelled
Following the move in Jabalpur, a similar directive has been issued for the Ordnance Factory in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. All employee leaves have been cancelled with immediate effect, and staff have been instructed to report to duty at the earliest.
The Chief General Manager in an order said, “In accordance with the directions received from the Chairman and Managing Director, Munitions India Limited, it is hereby informed that all kinds of leave (including Earned Leave, Casual Leave, and any other sanctioned leave) stand cancelled with immediate effect until further orders.
All employees of Ordnance Factory Chanda are directed to report for duty without fail and ensure uninterrupted attendance and contribution in line with national requirements during this critical period.
This order is issued in the interest of national security and operational urgency. Any exemption or exception will require specific approval from the Controlling Officer in case of employees upto Chargeman and from JWMs to Group A Officers approval from Chief General Manager and will be granted only under the most compelling and unavoidable circumstances.
Compliance to this directive is mandatory, and any deviation will be viewed seriously.”
Tension increased between India and Pakistan
Ties between the two neighbouring countries plummeted following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Meanwhile, Pakistani troops continued unprovoked small arms firing in different sectors along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, prompting effective retaliation by the Indian army, officials said on Sunday. The ceasefire violation by Pakistan was reported from eight places spread across five districts in the Union Territory during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday but there was no report of any casualty, the officials said.
This was the 10th consecutive night of unprovoked firing from across the border in Jammu and Kashmir, amid heightened tensions following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that left 26 people, mostly tourists, dead.
Since the night of April 24, just hours after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty following the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistani troops have been resorting to unprovoked firing at various places along the LoC in J-K, starting from the Kashmir Valley.
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