Once a big player in the Automotive sector Hindustan Motors now seem to diminish rapidly with the end of production for the vintage classic Ambassador. Work at the Uttarpara plant was stopped on May 24th. For the past couple of years the demand for its essential product Ambassador has been fading away leading to low productivity. In the last financial year, the company sold a meager 2,214 units of Ambassador as compared to 3,471 units sold in the previous financial year.
The plant had an annual manufacturing capacity of 40,000 units and had about 2,600 permanent, and 50 contractual workers. As per employees the firm owed about Rs. 70,000 as six months arrears. For now, the employees have received an upfront one-time payment of about Rs. 7,000 and the company is stated to be in talks with the state government for help in clearing dues with its employees. Purnendu Basu, Labour minister said, "The state government is very serious about a settlement at HM. There is no instance of workers getting any pay during suspension of work. I agree that the amount involved is low."
Speaking more on the occasion, spokesperson from Hindustan Motors said, “The company accumulated outstanding liabilities amounting to Rs 94 crore comprising sales tax and other tax dues, salary and wages, electricity bills, land revenue, and bank liabilities. The company has sought the state government's help in enabling the closure on the forge and foundry divestment which requires some approvals from a consortium of lenders which, in turn, will enable it to clear back log on overdue wages. For the Uttarpara unit we are in look out for strategic investors.”
For now, even though the workers are yet to receive a complete amount for their services at Hindustan Motors plant they have accepted a payment in a hope to receive the pending dues sometime soon.
