Dunlop India proposes to reopen Sahagunj unit

Our Bureau Updated - November 20, 2017 at 12:54 PM.

Dunlop India Ltd has submitted a proposal for reopening of its Sahagunj unit in Hooghly district of West Bengal.

As per the proposal suggested by the Dunlop management, the company would need to shift 336 out of the 790 employees on the unit's rolls.

Dunlop's Sahagunj plant was closed down in October last year.

The company's management on Thursday told the state government that it was simultaneously submitting the proposal to the state labour department as well as the three recognised unions.

Dunlop had earlier at a tripartite meeting said that it would submit a proposal for reopening the unit which has been closed for long.

Recently, the Calcutta High Court had asked for the appointment of a provisional liquidator to take stock of the assets of Dunlop.

The company's creditors (close to 40 of them) had sought the liquidation of its assets last year. As on March 31, 2011, the company has unsecured loans of about Rs 272 crore and secured loans of about Rs 48 crore.

Dunlop's Ambattur unit in Tamil Nadu also shut operations early this year. The total production capacity at each of these plants is close to 90 tonnes a day.

According to the proposal submitted by the company, 454 employees of Sahagunj unit would be absorbed in the first year in phases while the rest 336 would have to be transferred to the units run by the Pawan Kumar Ruia group in Maharastra and Karnataka.

The company has also earmarked Rs 50 lakh a month for settling the dues of the 319 people who had opted for an early retirement scheme (of a total workforce of 1200 at takeover in 2006). The rest 91, who had neither opted for ERS nor had they been absorbed, may be offered a one-time-settlement, which would also be paid out of the Rs 50 lakh kitty.

The West Bengal Labour Minister, Mr Purnendu Bose, said that while the unions are in touch with the state government they have not heard of the proposal so far.

> shobha@thehindu.co.in

Published on April 19, 2012 16:34