The Hindu Business Line : Dunlop Chennai unit may resume production next week

Court rulings
Has issued an interim injunction on raising bills in excess of the actual highest maximum demand, besides a direction for immediate resumption of power connection.
Has also stayed "recovery of the erroneous electricity bills" for the months of September and October.

MR P.K RUIA

Kolkata , Dec. 2

The Dunlop India Chairman, Mr P.K. Ruia, on Saturday said that production was expected to resume at Ambattur factory by next week as power connection has been restored only on Friday evening.

The Sahagunj facility in West Bengal, currently on trial run, is expected to fire the boiler within a week or two, paving way for resumption of commercial production.

Commenting on the recent hiccups over electricity dues, Mr Ruia said that based on the company's petition, the Madras High Court had directed the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) to expeditiously sanction the petitioner's request for reduction in the sanctioned maximum demand to 4,000 kva.

The court has also issued an interim injunction on raising bills in excess of the actual highest maximum demand, besides a direction for immediate resumption of power connection. It has also stayed "recovery of the erroneous electricity bills" — as alleged by Dunlop India — for the months of September and October.

The company has been directed to pay Rs 25 lakh as a precondition for resumption of electricity supply.

According to Mr Ruia, the highest maximum demand was the source of the entire conflict between Dunlop and TNEB.

He said the highest maximum demand limit if brought down to the desired 4,000 kva with retrospective effect, the company would end up saving nearly Rs 50 lakh on electricity bills for the last three months.

Asked about alleged non-payment of dues to suppliers, he said that there were some differences about quality and price of natural rubber supplied to the company during the interim period.

Non-payment of dues

Total supplies were Rs 3.6 crore, out of which supplies worth Rs 1.45 crore were returned.

Mr Ruia said following resumption of power supply, Dunlop had started paying its suppliers and the current dues stand at Rs 1.6 crore.

Denying any fund crisis, he said the company was continuing to pay workers salary as per schedule during the intermittent period.

Our Chennai Bureau reports:

According to the Dunlop Factory Employees Union representatives, discussions were on with the management on Saturday, and over 150 workers will start maintenance operations from Monday.

The management has assured them of continuous operations and that the wages would be paid on time. The workers have presented a firm action plan for the start of production, they said.

The union representatives expressed confidence that they would be able to achieve a production of about 45 tonnes a day against its full capacity of about 90 tonnes in less than a month. The full capacity after refurbishment and additional equipment would be about 130 tonnes but that is possible only if the entire range of rubber products is produced here, they said.

The management has indicated that after initially starting with commercial vehicle tyres, they would start with tubeless tyres for earth moving equipment, what they call OTR tyres, the representatives said.