After a long gap of more than 55 months, the Sahagunj factory of Dunlop India Limited in West Bengal re-opened on Friday for maintenance work to pave the way for operations to begin from August this year.
Owned by Pawan Ruia, the tyre manufacturing company closed down the factory in 2009.
The recession-hit company had earlier temporarily shut its plants at both Sahagunj, near Kolkata, and Ambattur, near Chennai. But with the rising demand in the the automobile sector, it was decided to resume production. According to Ruia, the Ambattur plant will resume operation from October 19.
No tyres of any description have rolled out of its factories in Sahagunj (West Bengal) or Ambattur (Tamil Nadu) since 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Pawan Ruia has finally done it, a beaming Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, then West Bengal chief minister, had said at the reopening of the 70-year-old Sahagunj factory owned by Dunlop in 2005. But with the Calcutta high court passing a winding-up order in 2013 and the Trinamool Congress-led state government passing a Bill to take over the company in 2016, the once-upon-a-time undisputed leader in the Indian tyre industry looks vastly undone. But that can hardly be a deterrent for Ruia, who has a penchant for making headlines one way or the other.
Dunlop & Jessop head for closure & new ventures abroad yet to inspire but tycoon says he's still going strong.
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