The Hindu : National : A shut-down, re-opening and poll fortunes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 13, 2006

National

National

A shut-down, re-opening and poll fortunes

Indrani Dutta

The revival of the Dunlop units could have an impact in West Bengal

Kolkata

Election time is a time for doles, with many a contestant sitting down to a community lunch in a bid to woo the voter. But the Election Commission has played spoilsport, clamping down on any such largesse.

But the scene the other day at the sprawling Ambattur unit of the Dunlop India Ltd. resembled a poll meeting; so much so that any EC observer driving past the industrial area would have peeked in to see whether the model code was being violated. Men, women and children milled around; some huddled in groups, some followed the man-of-the-hour. There were processions, festoons and slogans - but all in the name of Dunlop.

Festive mood

The 1,277 workers of the Ambattur unit of the once blue-chip company and their families were not the only ones in a festive mood, when the gates of the factory — closed since 2000 — reopened amid the chanting of Vedic mantras.

At least two DMK MPs, Mr. Kuppuswamy, the area representative, and Mr. A. Krishnaswamy, president of the Dunlop Factory Employees Union, were present.

Mr. Krishnaswamy is believed to have played a major role in the wage negotiations that facilitated the reopening. He was in a sentimental mood, given that his father too worked in Dunlop, but both the MPs chose their words carefully lest they incur the EC's wrath.

If the workers were happy to go back, just days before the Tamil New Year with a cheque for Rs. 2,500, a box of sweets and hopes of a better future, the politicians too were happy at the turn of events — only they could not make a public show of it.

Wage deal

Miles away, in West Bengal, which also goes to the polls, is the mother unit of Dunlop in Sahagunj in Hooghly district. Curiously, although here Dunlop's new promoter Pawan Ruia was having a bit of a trying time in sealing with the CITU-union a wage deal the broad contours of which were drawn months back, the Ambattur developments seemed to have acted as a catalyst.

Hours before Mr. Ruia was to fly out of the city to keep his tryst with the Ambattur workers, the Sahagunj agreement was inked, paving the way for the reopening of the unit within this month. Bengali New Year day is on April 15, and the numbers at this unit are larger at 2,700. As the main unit, it had spawned a substantial service sector as well as ancillary units all of which are hoping for a revival in tandem.

Observers think it will not only boost the local economy but also play a role at the coming hustings. Hooghly district goes to the polls on May 22, in the second phase of the West Bengal Assembly Elections.

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