Memories of 1998 — when the Dunlop factory first closed down — returned to haunt the company’s employees on Monday when the management slammed its gates on them.

Disappointed with Dunlop chairman Pawan Ruia’s directive that workers stay at home until the tyre company tides over the economic slowdown, the All India Tyre Dealers’ Federation on Wednesday sought the Centre’s intervention to see that the company resumed production at its plant.

The Federation said that looking at the firm’s tyre prices and demand, the company had no excuse to stop production at this juncture.

The company’s Ambattur plant in Tamil Nadu has also been shut for some time now.

Earlier, on Tuesday, nearly 1,200 employees gathered in front of the Sahagunj unit of the factory to protest against the decision, even as they worried if their families would be allowed to stay on in the run-down accommodation provided to them by Dunlop.

Chandra Prakash Pathak, an employee since 1989, said: “My father worked here. After the company closed down in 1998, the days seemed like a long nightmare. But we survived them. We began to dream again when the Ruias took over, only to face uncertainty again.”

“For the time-being, Dunlop will suspend production at its Sahagunj unit, but there will be no lay-off, no closure or lock-out,” a company spokesman had said.

And though the company has assured the present stay-at-home policy will be till March 31 next year, many wonder if the factory gates will ever open again.

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