Dunlop to offer 'temporary' VRS to 1,700 employees

Pawan Kumar Ruia, chairman of the Ruia group, on Tuesday said the company would offer "temporary" VRS to about 1,700 workers at Dunlop's Sahagunj and Ambattur factories and re-absorb them as and when required.

"We will take in about 1,000-1,300 people of the 2,700 employees at the Sahagunj factory (in West Bengal) to start our operations. The rest will be given VRS with the understanding that they will be absorbed as and when required," Ruia said.

At the Ambattur plant in Tamil Nadu, he said the company would extend VRS to 300 employees out of the total manpower of 1,300 employees.

Ruia, who met West Bengal chief minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee at the state secretariat, said the company has already signed the agreement with the labour union at Ambattur and would do the same at Sahagunj "in a day or two" before starting operations.

"It will take another 4-5 months to start production after the agreement is signed," he added.

Asked about his meeting with Bhattacharjee, Ruia said, "The chief minister was very positive and promised all support for reopening the unit. He wanted us to start operation immediately''.

Bhattacharjee has also assured of giving ''maximum waiver'' on outstanding sales tax and electricity bills, he said.

Ruia said the new management would also seek to get back the 'Dunlop House', a heritage building, as the company's office.

About reconstitution of the new board, he said the directors of the previous promoters Jumbo Group have already resigned but formation of the new board would take some time to comply to some formalities as laid down by Securities and Exchange Board of India.

The Ruia Group had taken over Dunlop and Falcon Tyres from the Jumbo Group in a package deal worth Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) last month and announced an initial investment of about Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) for starting productions within a period of about six months.

Ruia had also ruled out sale of assets of the company to secure working capital funds saying ''it will be the last option''.

To a question, he said the notice issued by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to him for claiming allegedly false export benefits for another acquired PSU giant Jessop & Co, would not pose any dampner for him to continue with the revival plans for Dunlop.