Workers and their family members numbering around 200-plus were in 14-day quarantine, sources close to these developments said.

Covid-19 claimed the lives to two workers of Bajaj Auto working at the company’s Waluj, Aurangabad factory.
Sanjay Sapkal and Vitthal Sawant were under treatment after they tested positive for Covid-19. Sapkal was working on engine assembly at the motorcycle division while Sawant was work on three-wheeler final assembly unit.
Bajaj Auto has informed workers that the plant operations excluding exports, despatch and spares division, would not be operational on Saturday followed by the weekly off on Sunday and that the plant would be resuming normal operations on Monday.

The company said it reported the first case on June 6 and has taken all necessary measures for testing, contact tracing, self-isolation and complete sanitisation as per protocol, and all incidences were reported to the appropriate authorities. “We have more than 8,100 employees and contractors employed in our Waluj plant. Our current incidence of 140 cases of Covid is less than 2% of our strength. Two of our infected employees with underlying conditions of hypertension and diabetes have unfortunately succumbed to the infection,” said Ravi Kyran Ramasamy, CHRO, Bajaj Auto, said.

Workers and their family members numbering around 200-plus were in 14-day quarantine, sources close to these developments said. Around four are in critical condition but details remain unconfirmed. Though workers were worried and keen on a longer shutdown period at the plant, the company was keen on continuing operations and maintaining production levels. The company has been riding on the back of high export numbers after it started operations after lockdown. The Waluj plant makes three wheelers and the smaller motorcycle range that are largely exported.

Bajaj Auto is the largest company based in Aurangabad with a workforce of 3,000-plus workers and it has resumed operations from the third week of April 2020 after lockdown was eased here and was running two shifts. All the workers were administered the homeopathy medicines by the company management as preventive care against the virus. Workers were given two rounds of this medication. Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv Bajaj had been strongly advocating opening up of industry and resuming economic activity by getting young people back to work. He had called the lockdown to contain the outbreak in India as draconian and responsible for decimation of the economy.