Thaindian News

Kolkata, Oct 17 (IANS) The West Bengal government Monday said it will try to persuade tyremaker Dunlop India Limited to reopen its Sahagunj factory and hoped the company will come out with a positive decision on the issue.

“We will try to reason out and persuade them to take back the suspension of work notice. We are also hopeful that the management will come out with a positive decision at the board meeting (Oct 21),” Law Minister Purnendu Bose said here after meeting with representatives of the factory workers.

Work at the Sahagunj factory in Hooghly district was suspended Oct 8, five months after a temporary shut-down in April. The management of the factory put up suspension of work notice at the factory gate on night Oct 7. About 900 workers are employed at the unit.

The workers’ representatives Monday submitted to the government a memorandum of their demands and hoped the factory would reopen.

“The Dunlop management after their board meeting Oct 21 will inform the government when they will revoke the suspension of work notice. With regard to our demands, the government will later hold a meeting of the various stakeholders to sort out the issues,” Centre of Indian Trade Union leader Shantoshri Chattopadhyay said.

Three trade unions - CITU, Indian National Trade Union Congress and the Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress - have already formed a joint action committee demanding the owners take back the suspension of work notice.

Bose said the government will help the management as well as the workers to make the unit sustainable.

“We support all the legitimate demands of the workers and also assure the management all kind of support to help it solve the problem and make the unit sustainable,” he said.

Government intervention has till now failed to solve the issue. The management has not taken back the notice in spite of the government asking it to do so.

The management apart from citing law and order problem at the factory premises, mentioned other problems like “exorbitant” conversions cost, hefty increase in raw material prices without corresponding increase in tyre prices, continuous losses and cash crunch’ for its inability to run the factory.

Dunlop, which the city-based Pawan Ruia group acquired in 2006, has two plants, at Ambattur near Chennai, and Sahagunj. While the Ambattur plant is operational, there has been no production in Sahagunj plant for the last ten months.