Shalimar Paints bipartite meeting inconclusive

Ghatak said the management told them the company was willing to build a modern plant there for which some time was required

The management of Shalimar Paints,which declared suspension of work at its oldest Howrah plant last week, today met West Bengal labour minister Moloy Ghatak in a bipartite meeting, which,however, ended inconclusively.

Ghatak told reporters after the meeting that both the management and the government sides gave options on possible re-opening of the plant which were to be examined and explored before the next bipartite meeting scheduled for August 6.

He said the management told them the company was willing to build a modern plant there for which some time was required.

The Minister said the government's response was that all the existing 154 workers would have to be retained and in the meantime during setting up of the modern plant, if they were transferred elsewhere, then the company would have to pay for their rented accommodation for those whose salaries were Rs 15,000 or below.

Earlier, the company said that revival of the fire-damaged plant would cost Rs 60 crore which was beyond its ability to bear.

To this, Ghatak said that the company would get Rs 10 crore as insurance claim, while the balance would have to brought in by Shalimar Paints only.

Irrigation Minister Rajib Banerjee and agriculture marketing minister Arup Roy, MLAs from Howrah, were also present at the meet.  

The company later said in a statement, "We met the government officials and expressed our commitment to the state of West Bengal."

"We will explore the feasibility of the options discussed. We have agreed to reconvene at a later date," the statement further said.