(Left) An eye-piece of a rifle telescope and (right) rubber being moulded in chullis for making washers, indicator covers, mud flaps

Poor infrastructure and lack of common facilities have stood in the way of growth of the rubber and plastic industry in Uluberia’s Raghudebpur. More than 1,500 rubber and plastic moulding units are spread over remote villages like Santoshpur, Ghosal Chawk, Basudebpur, Balarampota and others in Raghudebpur gram panchayat. They are engaged in the production of important components for the defence industry but have little infrastructure for the growth of their trade. The roads that lead to the factories are narrow and filled with craters and potholes, there is dearth of water sources required for moulding rubber and plastic and there are frequent power cuts that hamper production.

The half-a-kilometer road that connects Bauria Station Road with Raghudebpur is barely nine feet wide with a number of twists and turns. In some places, the road is so narrow that two cars cannot pass simultaneously. The brickwork has worn out and there are pools of slush and mud at several places. “Some times we have to bring heavy machinery from outside that are used for mixing rubber and chemicals. But taking the machines to the factory is a tough task due to the bad condition of the road,” said Moshear Laskar, one of the owners of a rubber and plastic moulding unit. He recently started building a 3,200 square feet shade for his production unit, in which he needed to install several mixing and moulding machines for bulk production.

Clock wish from below left) Rubber stoppers, a prism cover of a periscope, the body of a day-sighting telescope used in 5.56mm rifles and gaskets. Pictures by Anup Bhattacharya

Laskar produces vital defence items like eye guards of rifle telescopes, prism covers of periscopes used in T90 battle tanks, body of high resolution binoculars used by the military, body of day sighting telescopes used in 5.56mm rifles, cheek rest of optical instruments for the 5.56mm rifles, battery cover for night vision devices, hand rests for T90 battle tanks and numerous other things. He alleged that production is also hampered due to frequent and long power cuts. “There are frequent power cuts in our village. The authorities should keep in mind that there are 1,500 units operating here that employ 15,000 people,” said S Alam, the owner of SSR Rubber Moulders. “Besides, we want the government to sanction funds for building infrastructure like roads and water sources,” said Abul Hossen, owner of another unit.

The body of a high resolution binocular that is made at these units in Raghudebpur

The unit owners were unanimous about the need for a chemical laboratory near their units for the chemical testing of rubber and plastic. In the absence of such a lab, they have to visit either Calcutta or Howrah for the chemical test report of rubber and plastic. “It takes us considerable time to travel to Calcutta or Howrah to get the test report. Without the report, we cannot start final production. If a chemical laboratory is set up in our locality, we can save time commuting,” said an owner. But an officer of small and medium scale industry said that it required anything between Rs15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for setting up a chemical laboratory. It was difficult to find someone willing to invest such a huge amount for setting up a laboratory. According to him, the day-to-day cost of running a laboratory was high. “We know the cost of setting up a laboratory is high. So we want the government to do it where all the units can get their chemical tests done,” said an owner.

Another common grouse of the owners of the moulding units is that the cost of production in Raghudebpur is higher than their counterparts in Delhi. Both natural and chemical rubbers are needed for production. While natural rubber is bought from Kerala, Assam, Tripura and Malaysia, the synthetic rubbers are mostly imported from Japan, Germany, North Korea and a few other countries. Since the imported consignments reach Delhi, the rubber and plastic units there avail it for a far lesser price than those in Calcutta. “We have no choice but to buy our raw materials from Calcutta, where the price is higher than Delhi. But if we can buy directly from the suppliers, we can keep our production costs low. We can do that only if we buy the raw materials together in bulk and use them according to the need of each unit,” said Akhtar Laskar of Alfa Rubber Industries. However, to do that they have to invest in building a big godown for storage.

Pieces of synthetic rubber

The industry badly needs a cluster with common facilities like a laboratory, a storage, good roads and water. In the absence of a cluster, Raghudebpur is gradually trailing behind its nearest competitor, Delhi. In the last one-and-half years an attempt was made to build a cluster near National Highway 6, but the money sanctioned by the department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) was not enough to buy a plot of three cottah land near the highway. “The MSME department sanctioned only Rs 10 lakh for building the cluster for which a minimum of three cottah of land is required. But the price of land near NH6 is anywhere between Rs 6 lakh to Rs 7 lakh per cottah. So the fund sanctioned is not even enough for buying land, let alone building structures,” said MA Mollick, who produces rubberised cork gaskets for all types of transformers.

The owners of the units are frustrated that the money sanctioned for the cluster had to be returned. They believe that if the government was serious about setting up a cluster they would have sanctioned more money. “We do not want the kind of cluster in which all the moulding units have to be shifted. But we want a cluster for storing raw materials and for setting up a chemical laboratory,” said Mollick.

A brick road in Raghudebpur that leads to the rubber and plastic units

However, the MSME department claims that they are ready to sanction money for the cluster once the owners of the units arrange land for the purpose. “The state government and central government’s total contribution for a cluster is 90 per cent of the total cost. The rest 10 per cent has to be borne by the unit owners who are going to enjoy the facilities of the cluster. What the owners of the units need to do is to arrange for land. But they failed to do that,” said Biswajit Modok, industrial development officer (IDO), Uluberia.

The unit owners have land of their own that they can spare for the cluster but they are willing to sell it only at a market price. “It is due to their own short-sightedness that the money sanctioned for the cluster is going back to the department,” said Modok.