Workers sceptical of Ruia's revival plan for Sahaganj

The drama over a lay-off notice issued by tyre maker Dunlop India at its Sahaganj plant in West Bengal’s Hooghly district last week to about 900 workers had a happy ending after the notice was withdrawn within two days. What’s more, Chairman Pawan Kumar Ruia, who acquired Dunlop in 2005, is working on plan to bring the factory on track in about four months. But workers are not quite buying the story. They believe their problems are far from over.

“We heard this in 2006 also when Dunlop was reopened. There was a lot of talk about revival of the plant. But nothing has happened. There has been no production for the last six months. Since the factory was acquired by the Ruia group, not for a single day there was full production. This time, they wanted to close down the factory with the lay-off notice,” Dipan Choudhury, a worker at the plant, said when asked about the Ruia group’s revival plan, which is understood to be reeling under the pressure of high input cost.

Back home, the turmoil erupted on the morning of April 2 when the “Dunlop management” put up a lay-off notice on the factory gate. The move, ahead of the six-phase Assembly elections, stirred up the political atmosphere as all the trade unions, irrespective of their affiliations, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) and Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress held rallies in front of the factory gate on April 4, describing the move illegal as the state government was not informed about the lay-off.

As the news reached Bangkok, Ruia asked the management to recall the lay-off notice. And the drama ended with workers resuming their duties on April 7.

Ruia, however, said he did not intend to shut the factory. The lay-off notice was “a move by the Dunlop management” and served without the chairman’s knowledge, a company spokesperson said, adding he (the chairman) was “unaware of the move” as he was in Bangkok attending an annual convention.

“Dunlop India has been directed to prepare the details of the revised business plan and implement it in the course of the next four months. The quantum of funds required and the revised product mix will be known as soon as plans crystalise and will be communicated accordingly,” Ruia said.

The revival plan is expected to be ready in four weeks and the company expects the plant to be fully operational within four months.

“We would come up with a new revival plan for Sahaganj in four weeks. And the plant will start production once this is prepared, and within four months the factory will be fully operational,” Ruia said.

Even company officials admitted that challenges to stabilise the plant were galore, and spiraling prices of raw material was just one.

“Production has been very irregular in the last five years. It has been 5 to 10 tonnes a day,” Ranjit Niyogi, president of the INTUC-affiliated union at Sahagunj, said.

The company says it’s still a far cry from what it was. The Sahagunj plant was in very bad condition and not operational at the time of acquisition.

Also, theft was a major cause of concern. “We have sought the assistance of local administration to sort out the problem,” a company official said. The company is also awaiting the Pollution Control Board (PCB) approval for its 50-Mw thermal plant at Sahaganj as captive power generation would bring down the production cost.

“We have got the approval from the state government for the power plant and are waiting for the PCB approval. Once power generation starts, this will bring down the production cost,” a Ruia Group spokesperson said.