Maruti to resume production soon: Hooda

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday said he expected Maruti’s Manesar plant to resume production shortly.

“Production will begin soon and we are trying to do it as early as possible,” Hooda said here at an interactive session with the MCC Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

He, however, could not give a time-line by which the production at the Maruti facility would resume. Maruti Suzuki on July 21 had announced a lockout at its plant at Maneswar after a senior official of Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) was killed and 100 others were injured in the violence and arson that erupted on July 18.

Hooda said the Maruti management was happy with the steps taken by the government, including the formation of a special investigating team.

“Maruti had already said it was not going away from Haryana,” Hooda said. Hooda claimed the overall crime rate and man days loss in Haryana was the lowest among states and described the Maruti episode as a “stray” case.

In Gurgaon, staff members and relatives of Awanish Kumar Dev, who was killed in the July 18 incident, paid a tribute to him on Sunday evening.

Around 200 members including women and children took out a small procession here and placed candles in front of his photographs. They were carrying placards stating “We want justice” and “Justice for Awanish’s death”.

Some of the executives told the media they wanted all the culprits responsible for the death arrested. Gurgaon police have already arrested 114 workers, including all office bearers of the union.