The source in Mecon said that the company could not shed its surplus workforce through the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for want of funds. The company so far released about 200 employees under VRS in phases.

According to the source, Mecon, which enjoys the status of a schedule `A' company with a schedule `A' chairman, did not have a director of finance and director of personnel since inception while it maintained four full-time directors, three executive directors, 20 general managers, 221 deputy general managers, 479 assistant general managers and several hundred other executives, comprising a total workforce of over 3,000 as on April 30,1999.The source said that the number of senior executives had gone up with the announcement of promotions on Tuesday.

The source said that the five-year term of the present chairman & managing director, LK Singhal, ended at the end of last year and he was continuing in office with extensions.

Referring to the estimated loss of Mecon in 1998-99, the source said that the accounts were being finalised. But the loss this year will be in crore in contrast to the fact that the company had been making profits and paying dividend to the Union Government for the last 19 years.

On the order book position of Mecon, the source said that according to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the year 1999-2000 with the ministry of steel, the company was committed to procuring new business of Rs 120 crore in consultancy and Rs 200 crore in supply during the year, besides procuring new business of $1 million from the overseas market.

The MoU also envisaged a gross margin target of Rs 4.5 crore with a turnover of Rs282 crore. The turnover covers consultancy turnover of Rs 77 crore and supply turnover of Rs 250 crore. The source said that in petrochemicals, the company is getting adequate response from big companies such as the Indian Oil Corporation through several work orders on setting up oil terminals, LPG storage handling and bottling plants.

Meanwhile, according to a Delhi-based source, Mecon has received a prestigious turnkey job from the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) for setting up the second satellite launch-pad at Sriharikota. Mecon has bagged this order by competing with other Indian and foreign companies.