Kolkata, Dec 2 (Inditop.com) Dunlop India Wednesday resumed the “production process” of its tyres at its Sahaganj unit in West Bengal after more than a year.
“The routine maintenance work was on for the last few months. From today (Wednesday), the production process has started,” a Dunlop India spokesman told Inditop.
The unit in Hooghly district has a daily production capacity of 90 tonnes, he said, adding: “But now we will run it at 40 tonnes per day as our primary aim is to stabilise the plant.”
The spokesman said with the demand from the auto industry on a high, the company was hoping to run the plant at full capacity soon. “But no time frame has been decided yet.”
The Ruia group company had shut down the plant in November last year citing the slump in the auto sector and falling demand for tyres, but has now resumed operations with 829 employees of its 1,039-workforce.
However, a group of 25 workers staged an agitation before the factory gates Thursday demanding they also be reinstated.
“These 29 workers have either been dismissed or chargesheeted. But we are actively considering their cases,” the spokesman said.
The company had reopened the plant March 6 and began maintenance work with 229 workers.
It, however, could not resume production as the state government refused to restore power supply to the unit on account of past dues.
After protracted negotiations over terms of the letter of credit, power was finally restored Nov 9.
The company’s plant in Ambattur in Tamil Nadu has also become operational from Oct 19.
