India’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), finally reopened the doors of its Manesar plant on August 21 after facing a violent riot on July 18, which was followed with a lockout at the unit. Reportedly, over 210 workers refrained to mark their attendance among the total strength of 300 on the day of reopening. Sources reveal that close to 84 workers were present in the factory premises to carry the operations.
According to sources, workers at Manesar plant believes that there is a possibility of backlash from those 500 workers who are removed from the company’s pay roll and from the supporters of 150 workers, who are presently behind the bars for playing a role in July 18 arson. Without disclosing his identity, an auto company’s workers union leader said, “A lot of workers stayed away from the plant as they were not sure about the security arrangements.”
After being a watchdog and confirming the safety measures on August 21, the number of employees reported in the factory premises reached around 200 the very next day. The employees who joined their duty on the foremost day packed their uniforms in bags before stepping outside the factory premises, in order not to appear as an odd-one out and being a part of sacked workers aggression.
By the end of the day, workers were bundled into buses and cabs under the strict vigilance of security guards. One of the workers who joined on August 21 told HT that the company’s management has directed to follow the same schedule for around a month as a part of security reasons.
Expressing his views on the same, Rajendra Pathak, the lawyer of workers arrested for July 18 clash and MSIL union leaders, said that a large number of employees did not approached the Manesar plant on the first day as they were lacking confidence and were skeptical regarding the auto maker’s behaviour on the situation.
On August 21, around 1,500 police officials, 40 security guards, company’s 100 private security personnel and more than a dozen vigilance sleuths marked their presence in the factory premises. Besides, Indian Reserve Battalion of 550-trained personnel is also stationed permanently at the Manesar plant, which has eyed each and every activity happening at the plant.
