100 employees have died of Covid since March: HAL

4,000 employees have been infected during the second wave

The second wave has not spared Bengaluru’s defence PSUs, with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) saying that it has suffered the deaths of 100 employees since the surge began this March.

In a statement, a company spokesperson said that the 100 fatalities had transpired at the firm’s branches across India, with another 4,000 people having been infected during the second wave.

Read | Why India's second Covid-19 surge is so much worse than the first

While a spokesperson added that a specific case and fatality break-up at this stage was not yet available as data needs to be compiled from various regions, sources say some 60 of the fatalities and slightly 2,000 infections were registered among HAL’s 18,500 employees working in Bengaluru.

The Covid hits are said to have impacted key defence systems such as the LCA Tejas and helicopter programmes, but HAL said the real problem was the disruption of the supply chain to the extent that projects were becoming delayed.

According to Suryadevara Chandrashekara, Chief Convenor, All India HAL Trade Unions Coordination Committee (AIHALTUCC), the number of infections has reduced in recent days. However, in late April and early May, they were at their highest.

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“By being classified as a necessary industry by the central government, employees had no choice but to work. But when cases began spiralling upwards in April, we fought to get a temporary closure to break the chain of infection,” Chandrashekara said.

This temporary break lasted from April 23 to May 2. However, when employees returned to work thereafter, deaths and cases again began to rise. “We again halted work from May 15 to 23,” Chandrashekara said.

Part of why infections spread at HAL is because only about 5,000 employees in Bengaluru have been vaccinated so far, according to the AIHALTUCC.

The outbreak and supply disruptions potentially affects the company’s plans to fulfil its obligations towards its Rs 80,000 orderbook, which was revealed by R Mahadevan, Chairman and Managing Director of HAL, during Aero India 2021.

“Death of employees is sad but HAL will overcome and make up for the lost skills and know-how. The company has manpower that can cope with additional tasks and challenges,” the company said.