Asansol, March 20 – In West Bengal's Paschim Bardhaman district, coal extraction from Raniganj, which has been ongoing for centuries, fueled the region's growth, and later transformed Asansol–Durgapur into a hub for heavy industry and rail-linked manufacturing.
Today, the area is home to several closed industrial units.
Steel, engineering, and related industries grew around coal and rail links; large plants and ancillary factories created dense industrial townships and skilled labor markets.
However, technological obsolescence and changes in ownership undermined competitiveness; many older mills and factories could not modernize, leading to difficult transitions and closures.
Nationalization and restructuring also altered the industrial landscape; non-coking coal was nationalized in the 1970s, and major steel companies such as the Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) were taken over and later integrated into SAIL, changing local employment patterns.
Changes in mining patterns – primarily from underground to large-scale open-pit operations – and the abandonment of less-viable mines reduced local employment and led to "ghost town" effects in some settlements.
Coal production continues under public companies, and some steel and heavy engineering activities remain, but they are more consolidated and capital-intensive.
One such closed unit is that of the Burnpur unit of the Burn Standard Company Limited (BSCL), where wild grass now grows.
The Union Cabinet approved its closure in 2018 after it was found to be unviable due to more than a decade of continuous losses, poor physical and financial performance, and heavy dependence on government support.
The closure was intended to stop the drain on public funds and redirect resources to other developmental projects.
A one-time grant of ₹417.10 crore was also provided for severance packages and to clear the company's current liabilities, in addition to writing off a loan of ₹35 crore given by the Ministry of Railways.
This allowed 508 employees of BSCL to benefit from the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS).
Asish Bagh, 61, who was once a crane operator at BSCL, questioned this takeover by the Railways.
"Burn Standard Company Limited was involved in the construction of several iconic structures and civic facilities, including the Howrah Bridge, the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, and underground Hume pipes; even the outer shells of cannonballs and later, the Brahmos casing, were manufactured in our factories," he said.
Bagh was a second-generation employee in the company after his father's death in 1984, who had worked there for nearly four decades.
After BSCL was taken over from the Department of Heavy Industries in 2010 during Mamata Banerjee's term as Union Railways Minister, the workers had no identification associated with the new Ministry, he alleged.
He also blamed policy shortcomings and the appointment of officials from non-engineering backgrounds as factors leading to its closure.
BSCL was incorporated in 1976 following the nationalization and amalgamation of Burn and Company and Indian Standard Wagon Company Limited in 1987 under the Department of Heavy Industries.
The company was referred to the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) in 1994 and was declared sick the following year.
Administrative control of the company was transferred from the Department of Heavy Industries to the Ministry of Railways in September 2010, as approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
Tej Naran Mishra, now 68, is another second-generation worker, but at Sen Raleigh Limited, who also saw the once-celebrated cycle manufacturer close shop in Asansol.
"My father worked at Sen Raleigh since the late 1950s. It was an ideal workplace, offering several amenities to workers," he recounted.
He joined in 1990 after his father passed and saw the unit finally announcing closure later in the same decade.
In 1975, the Union government had taken over the management of the company and continued production under the brand name of Cycle Corporation of India Limited.
But by then the company was embroiled in a series of litigations that led to its closure.
"Every election, political parties and their candidates promise reopening," Mishra said, adding, "but over time, they become less vocal about the issue."
