Manesar: Amid tight security, Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday resumed production at its Manesar plant, a month after a lockout was declared due to violence in which one senior company official was killed and 100 others injured.
The Chairman of the company's Japanese parent Suzuki Motor Corp, Osamu Suzuki, will be arriving in India on Wednesday for a week-long visit during which he will take stock of the situation at the plant. He will also meet Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to discuss the issue.
"Production has resumed at the Maruti Suzuki Manesar plant this morning," a company spokesperson said.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Yogender Nehra, said a total of 1,200-1,500 policemen, including 540 from India Reserve Battalion (IRB), have been deployed inside and outside the plant.
"We have not got any information of any untoward incident inside the plant so far. Forces will be here till industrial peace is established in the region," he added.
Earlier in the day, Gurgaon Police Commissioner K K Sindhu also inspected security arrangements in the plant.
Maruti Suzuki India has also formed its own special force numbering 100, which includes ex-servicemen.
Although the company had earlier said that 300 workers would start operations in a single shift, according to people who went inside the plant attendance was thin.
"We went inside the plant to assure our support the management. There were about 80 workers on duty...We will do whatever possible to help the company and restore normalcy," Kasan Village Sarpanch Ramesh Singh Chauhan said.
A company official, however, said there were a total of 500 people, including workers, supervisors and managers, inside the plant.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) had earlier announced that about 150 cars are expected to be rolled out every day instead of the plant's normal capacity of 1,500-1,700 units.
It had declared a lockout at Manesar plant on July 21 following the July 18 violence. The overall production loss during the lockout was pegged at around Rs 1,400 crore.
MSI has also decided to terminate services of 500 permanent workers, who were allegedly found to be involved in violence inside the plant. Besides, MSI is also said to be planning to remove another 500 contract workers over their alleged role in the violence and arson.
The company is learnt to have assured locals about employing them in the plant during a meeting with sarpanches of various villages in and around Manesar, including Aliyar, Dhana, Manesar, Kasan, Basskusla, Kankrola, Bangrola, Kho, Pukharpur, Naharpur, Mohammedpur, Farukh Nagar, Nawada and Wazirabad.
"We had a very good meeting with the company officials. They have assured us that they will hire locals for the plant and a process will start in a month from now," said Chauhan of Kasan village.
Last week, the company had announced that it would start a fresh recruitment process from September 2, during which the existing contract workers would be given a chance to be enrolled on a permanent basis but those who were found to be involved in the violence would not be taken back.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, August 21, 2012, 10:15