Ranchi, Sept. 26: The government’s failure to revive the Ranchi Bacon Factory, which marketed its products under the brand name “Ranbac”, even three years after creation of the state, has put a question mark on its ability to kickstart an industrial revival.

If units like Nalanda Ceramics and the Bacon factory, which employ barely a hundred people and which would require hardly a couple of crores of rupees for revival, cannot be put back on the rails, conceded an official, there is not much hope for industrialisation in the state.

The factory was set up to give a fillip to piggery in the tribal belt. For nearly two decades, it remained a profitable concern, selling bacon products, sausages, ham, salami and kebabs not only in the Northeast, Sikkim, Bihar and West Bengal but also in Nepal. It catered to the needs of the Russian, German and Czech experts at HEC, Bokaro and Rourkela and was known for its international production standards.

But ever since it closed down in 1997, the factory has languished. The number of employees has come down to 50, many of them having died or drifted away. Since even these people receive their salaries once in six months, most of them have been forced to take up other vocations, leaving them no time to even maintain the factory. As a result, machines have been reduced to junk, vehicles have broken down, deep freezers have gone out of order and the factory itself gives the appearance of a haunted house. Electricity connections were snapped long ago and now it does not even have a telephone to badger officials in the secretariat.

Animal husbandry secretary A.K. Sarkar said initially the government had tried to sell off the factory to the private sector. After a Nagpur-based firm backed out, renewed attempts are being made to revive the factory. A committee formed in July this year under the chairmanship of the development commissioner is yet to submit its report.

General manager R.D. Srivastava said: “All the costly machines have rusted. We had 10 vehicles. Three of them have been stolen and the others have broken down. Even if the company is revived, it will take time to get functional.” Pleading ignorance, he said he himself depended on newspapers to bring him some news about plans the government might have to revive the factory.

“We come and sit idle for the whole day with nothing to do. Most of us are facing acute financial crisis. Our salaries are also irregular. We are now worse than beggars,” said Jagjivan Ram. Srijan Singh, a machine operator, now plies a rickshaw to eke out a living, not the only one to have been forced into a new trade. But they all hope against hope.

“It was such a good factory,” he sighed. “Surely the government will not allow it to shut down for good.”