Union Official, Politicians Lash Out at Dunlop India Chief

Dunlop India chief managing director Pawan Ruia has been reportedly accused of cheating the company’s workers. This accusation, printed in the Times of India, was made by Centre of Indian Trade Unions state secretary Kali Ghosh and members of parliament Rupchand Pal and Shantosree Chatterjee (both from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) party). The union official and two politicians, says the newspaper, are of the opinion that Dunlop’s Sahaganj facility should be handed over to India’s Ministry of Defence.

“Dunlop had a major role to play in the defence sector,” said Pal. “Aircraft tyres were its specialty. A turnaround is still possible. The Centre (the national government) has announced a package to bailout industries. Why can’t it do the same for Dunlop? The defence ministry should take over the factory. This is a nationally important unit.”

“During the Kargil war, the then PM A B Vajpayee had called up former chief minister Jyoti Basu regarding shortage of tyres,” Pal added. “Though the factory was closed the workers came forward for the country’s sake.” Pal added that he had once talked to India’s external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee about the possibility of Dunlop turning entirely into a defence-run unit.

Lashing out at Ruia, Pal said that workers had no faith in him: “He hasn’t kept the promises he made to the state government on reopening the factory. Leave aside 120 tonnes of production, only two tonnes were produced on average. There has been no investment. No efforts were made to improve production.

“Workers were promised their dues by April 2007,” he added. “Not a single person has received any money. PF dues have not been deposited. The Dunlop head office in Kolkata was sold but the money wasn’t used to clear workers’ dues.”