News: Plants open, workers line up, Manesar auto hub starts moving-24-09-2020

https://indianexpress.com/article/business/companies/plants-open-workers-line-up-manesar-auto-hub-starts-moving-6480919/

At 11:30 AM Friday, around 50 men huddled near the “materials gate” of Maruti Suzuki’s main plant in Manesar, on the outskirts of the National Capital, some with papers and files in their hands. Over the past two days, with the facility moving to restore normal production, these ITI diploma-holders from towns in Haryana, who had been working here earlier, had got calls to return.

“More than 100 men have joined already. My hope is that even if they keep me as a temporary employee, they should not ask me to leave soon,” says Deepak Kumar, from Bhiwani.

“I have been unemployed and working on a farm. We are here for the money, but we are also taking a risk by coming to work in the time of Covid. I hope the company understands this, and provides us jobs for a longer period,” says Sonu, from Palwal. “The workers from UP and Bihar have gone back, that’s why the company has called us from districts nearby.”

Production levels are still far short of pre-Covid levels at the Manesar plants of auto majors, such as Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), Hero MotoCorp, and Honda Motors and Scooters India (HMSI), but the industrial hub has come back to life