Maruti declares Lockout at Manesar Plant

Two days after violence erupted at Maruti's Manesar plant, the firm's chairman reacted to the incident calling it 'shattering'. He said that production of the plant will resume after the probe is completed. 

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava said that that the employees' safety is more important than making cars at the plant. "We cannot risk any further risk to our employees, including workers, we cannot endanger our people any further. For that reasons, we are not in a position to start production at the factory", he said.  

Expressing his grief over the death of his senior human resources manager, Awanish Kumar Dev, he said that over 90 senior employees were injured in the violence, and four are still in intensive care. The HR manager was killed in fire on Wednesday evening. 

He said that he had never thought a day like this would come. The workers have rights to put their demands, but he had never expected that it would lead to this kind of incident. Bhargava said that he has been in regular touch with the union leader. He rejected the speculations that the plant will be shifted from Manesar. "There is no question of moving out of Manesar. This thought of us moving out of here is complete fiction. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater", he said.

He admitted that there will be pressure from the Haryana chief minister on the firm following the incident to move quickly on this matter. It impacts the whole matter of investment in Haryana. 

"Maruti is the flagbearer of investment in Haryana. Investors will say 'If Maruti cannot function, how can we function?'. Gurgaon plant is running at full capacity already", he said. 

He made it clear that no worker has been hospitalised and there is no outstanding demands from workers, except the wage negotiations.