The plant, also the largest manufacturing unit for Bajaj Auto, has been operating in two shifts after it had gradually resumed operations in the last week of April
More than 200 employees have tested positive and four have succumbed to covid-19 as on Friday at Bajaj Auto Ltd factory at Waluj in Aurangabad, three people aware of the development told Mint.
The plant, also the largest manufacturing unit for Bajaj Auto, has been operating in two shifts after it had gradually resumed operations in the last week of April.
“About 165 workers were identified as positive covid-19 cases until 3 days ago. This number is now more than 200 and we assume another 100 cases in the vicinity, which is surrounded with several other factories. Despite these cases being identified over the past few days, the plant continued to operate," first person aware of the developing matter said, requesting anonymity.
The second person, who works at the plant, said, “the shopfloor workers continued to work normally since the plant resumed operations. While you cannot change people’s working habits overnight, we did not see strict implementation of social distancing norms in the plant on the assembly lines."
The person said that while those who are tested positive are being sent into quarantine for some time, the number of affected workers could eventually be a larger headcount leading to impact on the company’s production schedules.
Responding to Mint's query, Ravi Kyran Ramasamy, chief human resource officer at Bajaj Auto said, "We have more than 8100 employees and contractors employed in our Waluj plant. Our current incidence of 140 cases of Covid is less than 2 percent of our strength. Two of our infected employees with underlying conditions of hyper tension and diabetes have unfortunately succumbed to the infection." In another official statement released on Friday evening, the company said, “we had our first reported case on June 6. We have immediately taken all necessary measures for testing, contact tracing, self-isolation and complete sanitation as per protocol. All incidences were reported to the appropriate authorities."
Ramasamy also said that the company continues to provide all support including medical assistance to affected employees.
“We will continue our normal business operations, while taking all necessary safety measures, as the alternative is to shut down our operations with ‘no work no pay’ which will have a drastic impact on our employees and supply chain," Ramasamy said in a note.
Meanwhile, no positive cases are detected at the other units of the company in Chakan (near Pune) and in Pantnagar (Uttarakhand).
Earlier, employees at other leading automakers such as Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd had reported covid-19 positive cases, following which the companies had announced temporary shutdown to carry out sanitization procedures.
The number of employees who had tested positive, however, was much less in comparison to Bajaj Auto’s Aurangabad unit.
Click here to read the Mint ePaperLivemint.com is now on Telegram. Join Livemint channel in your Telegram and stay updated
