Dunlop: West Bengal Govt to convene tripartite meet

The West Bengal Government has decided to convene a tripartite meeting with the employees unions and the management of Dunlop India Ltd. The meeting assumes significance not only in view of the prolonged closure at the mother units of Dunlop at Sahagunj in West bengal's Hooghly district but also in view of the developments at the Calcutta High Court where Dunlop's promoter Pawan Kumar Ruia is engaged in a legal battle with his creditors who have moved a winding up petition. The Court had appointed an officer on special duty to take on record the assets at the Sahagunj unit. The State government, which has made attempts at resuming work at the unit which has been closed since October last year, has also said that it felt that more important than appointing a liquidator was the issue of clearing the dues of the workers who had not got paid for months. The Dunlop management, which held a meeting with the trade unions last weekend, said that it was keen to resume operations and willing to pay a month's salary initially. The government and the management alike seem eager to at least give them some cheerful news if not, put some of the workers dues in their hands, ahead of the Bengali New Year next week. The company also said that references to the appointment of a liquidator (whereas the Court had appointed a special officer to make an inventory of assets) was hurting its business interests. Keywords: Dunlop India Ltd