1 coronavirus case registered in Maruti’s Manesar plant – 3 cases in Hyundai’s plant located in Kancheepuram district
India's two biggest car manufacturers resumed operations early this month and in spite of incorporating the strictest measures of hygiene and safety, cases of coronavirus have been reported from within the production plants.
Operations in industries throughout the country had been temporarily suspended due to the lockdown, but early this month, we saw the lockdown being relaxed in the green zones, and thanks to the local authorities, production in industries, specifically auto industries was resumed.
The Auto Industry was suffering greatly in the month of April, as supply chains and production had been derailed, and sales stood close to 0, naturally, Auto Industries had been waiting to get the green signal to start production, and begin the process of recovering from the losses incurred. However, it seems that restarting operations has its risks.
Maruti’s Manesar plant in Gurugram has reported 1 new Covid-19 case, with the possibility of a ‘second case’ as well. The first case of Coronavirus in Maruti’s plant was detected on the 22nd of May, and this employee has been admitted to the hospital with his condition being stable at the moment.
In Hyundai’s Kancheepuram plant, 3 cases of the novel Coronavirus have been reported, and 16 workers have been further tested, whose results will be known to us in the coming 2 days. Hyundai Motors India’s spokesman stated “All the necessary measures are being taken for contact tracing, self-isolation and complete sanitation”. We can expect both the plants to be completely sanitised and disinfected, and this could take up to 3 to 4 days to complete. While this takes place, time staff will not be allowed to entire the premises.
The Maruti and Hyundai plant commenced operations from the 18th and 8th May respectively, so it has just been a few days or weeks since and the plants have already recorded a few cases of Coronavirus. All the SOPs and guidelines which had been employed, have failed to protect the staff of the automakers, and this is worrying. Hyundai’s Kancheepuram staff has requested the state government of Tamil Nadu and the management of the Hyundai to test all the workers for Covid 19, and that this testing should be paid by both or either of the bodies.
In an attempt to jump start the economy again, industries have to open their doors and resume work, but how does an industry continue operation when they have been hit by a few cases of Coronavirus? I understand, the economy is what drives the country, but if the cost of kickstarting the economy results in putting the life of the working man in danger, then it is not worth it. In spite of these cases taking place, both plants have resumed production, and we can just hope that their ‘strict’ measures are able to keep coronavirus at bay, from henceforth.
