The Sahagunj factory of Dunlop could be reopened earlier than expected, feels Pawan Ruia, the new owner of Dunlop. | |
| After visiting the factory with his family members and a group of executives, Ruia said the condition of the plant was much better than expected. "I think, we could start production soon at the plant," he said. |
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| Ruia also praised the workers' unions at the plant, saying they were extremely cooperative when he visited the plant. |
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| "Dunlop was not closed owing to militant trade unionism. There must have been some communication gap between the previous management and the unions. I would like to amend that," he said. |
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| Ruia said he wanted to restart production in phases. He also requested the workers' representatives to help in identifying production lines which could be restarted soon. |
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| The plant has lines to produce tyres, rubber pipes and hoses and a modern conveyor belt line. Most of the lines were old except for one press and belting line. |
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| The spokesperson of the Ruia group later said the unions have asked the new promoter to pay the arrears of workers before restarting production. The workers had not been paid for over four years now. |
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| The Sahagunj factory occupied over 300 acre on the banks of Hooghly near Bandel, 45 km north of Kolkata. |
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| "Nearly Rs 35 crore remains to be paid under such heads as wage and other arrears," the spokesperson added. |
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| However, other workers appeared to be eager to resume work and start getting paid after years of closure. |
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| Debasis Mukherjee, a senior shop floor employee, told Business Standard over telephone that most workers would co-operate as they felt the new owner was serious about the business. |
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| He said while the production lines had been well maintained by the Chhabria management, the condition of non-production areas was poor. |
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| He claimed utilities such as hospital, many parts of the residential colony and school were in bad shape. It was set up in the 1930s though Dunlop sold and traded in tyres since the 1890s. |
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| It was sold in 1984 by the family of John Dunlop through Dunlop Rim & Wheels to R P Goenka and M R Chhabria. |
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| Both Goenka and Chhabria ran the company jointly till October 1988, when RP Goenka quit the company. |
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| The Sahagunj unit had 2,700 employees at last count. |
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| It had the reputation of being one of the best maintained factory townships in the country when it was open. |
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| Ruia took over Dunlop after floating a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in Singapore, which acquired the Mauritius-based DIL Rim & Wheels, the Chhabria company which owned the group's tyre business in India. |
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| To look at global alliances |
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| Dunlop aims to become a leader in the tyre industry, even if it means getting into alliances with global tyre giants keen on India, said Pawan Ruia at the first media meeting after taking over Dunlop. |
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| The names mentioned at the press meet included Sumitomo, which owned the Dunlop brand in many countries other than India. Ruia formally took over Dunlop and Falcon Tyres for a consideration of Rs 200 crore from the Jumbo group last week. Dunlop expects to resume production at its Ambattur unit, Tamil Nadu, in six months. |
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