Maruti Suzuki to decide on restarting Manesar plant this week: report
13 Aug 2012
Maruti Suzuki would take a call on lifting the lockout at its Manesar car production facility by Thursday or Friday, according to Business Line, which quoted an unnamed senior official.
Operations would likely start in the next week (starting 20 August 20), at the highly automated Plant B, which would start making the Swift followed by Plant A, which makes the Dzire, A-Star and SX4 sedan, the newspaper quoted sources as saying.
According to SY Siddiqui, COO, Administration (HR, IT), the investigation of the violence of 18 July was discussed with senior company officials and police today. The clash had left an official dead and 96 others injured.
The company, he added, would take a call on when to lift the lockout by Thursday or Friday and would also then take a call on which section of workers it could call back for starting production.
With 137 of the nearly 3,000 workers arrested and the number set to increase with the investigation, finding new workers for starting operations at Manesar might be challenging. According to some company officials, some labour may be shifted from the Gurgaon facility as well.
The company estimated losses from the month-long plant closure at around 47,000 units and revenue loss of around Rs2,700 crore.
Meanwhile, shares in the company gained as much as 2.5 per cent today on what traders said was speculation that it could announce plans to reopen the plant early.
Chairman RC Bhargava was quoted by Reuters as saying that the company's position was exactly the same as it had said in the beginning, that it would decide on a date of opening when it was satisfied that safety and security of all its employees was ensured.
