Uncertainty grips Duncans Industries

kanpur: the tussle between the government and the management over subsidy issue has pushed asia''s first private fertiliser unit - duncans industries limited on the brink of closure leaving about2,000 workers apprehensive about their future. as the deadlock continues, a sense of uncertainty gripped the workers who are not been getting salary in time for the past six months.the recent decision of the management to sack more than 1,000 contractual and daily-wage workers along with casual ones has further antagonised the staff against the management. the duncans industries, formally known as indian explosive limited (iel), established by an uk-based firm in 1968 and was inaugurated by the then prime minister indira gandhi. the duncans group of industries purchased the fertiliser unit from iel in 1993. the unit was making record profit till last year. duncan had a capacity of 4.5 lakh tonnes production which increased to 7.44 lakh tonnes in 1998. the company''s fertiliser unit, which is located in panki area of the city, has run into trouble following the government decision to revive retention prices downward on the recommendation of a committee set up to review national fertiliser policy. the union government had taken initiative to recover the excess subsidy amount form april 1, 2000 in order to curb the subsidy outflow which is figuring to about rs 200 crore. government had issued notification to all fertiliser units on november 5, 2001. reacting to this, the company has filed a writ petition in allahabad high court, and refused to pay the dues. a letter was also written to the state government stating that it would close down the unit due to financial crisis. in its reply, the state government rejected the plea on the ground that a profit-making unit cannot be closed. the debt burden was further aggravated when the power dues on duncan touched crores of rupees and it was declared a defaulter. the indian oil corporation, a supplier of naptha, threatened to issue notice to immediately pay its dues amounting in several crores. it resulted into a fight between the company and these departments.