Mamata backs Dunlop's Rs 100 crore fund plea

With the Lok Sabha elections not far away, the Trinamool Congress has found the closure of tyre-maker Dunlop India Limited an issue to negate its 'anti-industry' tag slapped on it by the CPI(M) after the departure of the Tatas. The Trinamool Congress has stepped in when the closure of Dunlop's Sahagunj unit is snowballing into a political controversy with the West Bengal government turning down the party's demand for incentives to reopen the factory.

Dunlop India chairman Pawan Ruia who had sought a Rs 100 crore soft loan from the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation to reopen the unit, visited Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's south Kolkata office on Wednesday and told her that the company did not get the incentive package that the state government had promised.

Banerjee who had visited Sahagunj recently, immediately sought to corner the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government, saying that it should keep its promise of providing concessions to Dunlop made before the 2006 assembly election when the factory reopened.

"The state government gave many concessions to Tata Motors to bring the automobile industry here. Dunlop is also connected to the automobile industry. There should be a uniform policy and incentives should be given to Dunlop as well," she said after the meeting with Ruia.

The state government, on its part, welcomed an initiative from the Trinamool Congress to reopen the factory, but turned down its demand for giving incentives and concessions to Dunlop.

The state government cannot give a soft loan to Dunlop as it is not a sick company, Labour minister Mrinal Banerjee said.

He took a dig at the Trinamool Congress saying that Dunlop workers apprehended that Ruia would not run the unit and sell off the factory land but if “Ruia now sells the land with the support of a political party, we don't know what will happen."

CITU president M K Pandhe said that the Centre should takeover the factory.

The Trinamool Congress chief also met Union minister for Heavy Industries Santosh Mohan Dev in Delhi to discuss the Dunlop impasse.

Dunlop had announced suspension of production at the unit on November 17 pleading a funds crunch, and declared a total shutdown on November 30, affecting 1,171 workers. The Trinamool Congress has also approached state Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi who had played a crucial role to resolve the Singur crisis, to reopen the factory. Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee met Gandhi on Friday with a group of workers under the banner of 'Save Dunlop Committee' and sought his intervention to end the impasse at the factory. According to Chatterjee, the governor said that he would do whatever possible in accordance with his constitutional position.

The delegation also met the labour minister and narrated the condition of workers in view of the suspension of work at the factory and sought his intervention.

Chatterjee said the delegation would meet Industry minister Nirupam Sen 'to request him to respond to queries raised by Ruia and to see that the work suspension notice is withdrawn'.