Sahaganj


Sahaganj is an urban area of Bandel of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Ward no 1 of Bansberia covers a part of Sahaganj. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.

Geography

Ward No. 1 of Bansberia Municipality and parts of Ward Nos. 1, 2 and 3 of Hooghly Chinsurah Municipality cover Sahaganj.

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census of India, Ward No. 1 of Bansberia municipality had a total population of 2,089 of which 1,084 were males and 1,005 were females. Population in the age range 0–6 years was 143. The total number of literate persons in Ward No. 1 was 1,721.

Dunlop at Sahaganj

Dunlop India Ltd. opened its first factory in India at Sahaganj in 1936. It pioneered the manufacture of cycle, automobile and aeroplane tyres. In 1952, it started producing foam cushioning, transmission belting and Vee belts. Conveyor belting and long length braided hose were added to the range later on.
In 1984, Manu Chhabria, the Dubai-based Indian businessman, arrived in India as a "corporate raider". He picked up a controlling stake, in association with the R. P. Goenka’s RPG Group, in Dunlop India, which was then ailing. He subsequently took single-handed control of the company.
The Sahaganj factory faced major hurdles, first with a 97-days strike by trade unions in 1988, and then in the early nineties with conflicting vision and strategies of the professional managers and owners over falling fortunes of the company. Several top executives, including the managing director, Murli Dhar Shukla, left the company. In 1998, the management of Dunlop moved the BIFR for registration as a sick company. Manu Chhabria died in 2002, and Pawan Kumar Ruia purchased Dunlop in 2005 from the Chhabria family controlled Jumbo Group. At the time of take over, the plant at Sahaganj was closed and employed 2,700 workers. It was taken out of BIFR in 2007. Amongst the other units in Pawan Kumar Ruiya's kitty is Jessop & Company.
Both the earlier Left Front government and the present Trinamul Congress government, in West Bengal, have expressed concern about the state of affairs in Dunlop India, for many years a blue-chip company, but, except for short periods in 2008, 2011 and 2014, Dunlop’s Sahaganj factory has remained closed. In 2011, 800 employees remained on its rolls.

Transport

State Highway 6 (West Bengal)/ Grand Trunk Road skirts the western edge of Sahaganj.

Education