Halyleys officials to meet President over controversial factory

Top officials of Hayleys PLC are set to meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa this afternoon to further discuss possibilities of re-commencing the stalled operations at its Dipped Products PLC (DPL) factory in Weliveriya, Mirror Business learns.

Sources said that test-reports which were being prepared by the Industrial Technology Institute, National Water Supply and Drainage Board and the University of Moratuwa regarding the water quality in the Weliveriya area, were likely to be presented at this meeting.

Operations at Dipped Products factory have been stalled for over a week, following a Defense Secretary’s directive earlier this month to temporarily suspend the factory over an alleged contamination of water in the neighborhood by the factory.

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had directed Hayleys and DPL officials to temporarily suspend production activities until these reports were prepared and had also given the officials an assurance that if these reports indicated that water was not contaminated, the said factory could commence operations immediately.

DPL officials, vehemently denying that their factory was responsible for contaminated water, said they were losing valuable orders and more importantly, the trust of buyers as a reliable supplier.

“Our whole process has got totally messed up,” a worried DPL Managing Director Mahesha Ranasoma had told our sister paper the Sunday Times.

DPL Chairman Mohan Pandithage was also quoted as saying that with competition growing from China, Malaysia, Thailand and even emerging countries like Vietnam, India and Pakistan, a strategic marketing campaign was underway to increase orders when this calamity struck.

Just before the incident, DPL was able to convince a Russian buyer to shift his supply source for 3.5 million pairs of gloves to Sri Lanka from Malaysia.

The company also supplies to the 3M unit in China which is in talks with DPL assessing the situation on delivery of orders.

Further, protests outside the factory accusing the company of polluting the water led to clashes elsewhere in the area leaving three dead when army opened fire on protestors on August 1.