Dunlop shuts down registered office in Kolkata

Our Corporate Bureau

Kolkata, Nov 20: Tyremaker Dunlop India Ltd has shut down its registered office here, housed in a Kolkata landmark, and directed its employees to report to two new locations. The unions have refused to shift and will be taking a decision after a tripartite meeting on November 21.

Dunlop’s management notified the shifting of the office late on Monday evening, citing tremendous paucity of funds.

Dunlop’s media consultant confirmed that the sales office, opposite the registered office, has been leased out for close to Rs 5 crore. This office had been closed earlier and its staff shifted to a rented godown.

“Yes it has been leased out. This is because the DRS [draft revival scheme] had wanted us to generate about Rs 18 crore, out of which Rs 10 crore was promised by the West Bengal government, and Rs 8 crore we were supposed to raise,” he said.

The building has been leased out for Rs 5 crore, and another Rs 3 crore will be raised from other sources, he said.

Dunlop said the decision to shift the registered office is in line with a decision taken by its board on July 23. According to the company’s notice, around 20-odd management and non-management staff of two departments — management information systems and legal/ secretarial departments — will be reporting to a new location.

The rest 99-odd employees will be shifting to the godown housing the sales office staff.

Dunlop’s media consultant said the shift is a temporary move.
The spokesman of the head office union, Mr Aniruddha Sengupta, said the move to shift the staff was aimed a depriving employees of their legitimate dues. He said employees at the registered office have not been paid since January 2001.

In addition to this, the management is yet to clear dues between May 1998 and February 2000, before the company had reopened. u
Mr Sengupta also alleged that the godown is unsuitable for carrying out any office work.

According to him, the state labour minister Md Amin, has directed a tripartite meeting between the management, union and the government on Thursday.