Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Wednesday said it has begun to roll out cars from its Manesar plant as it looks to normalise operations, even as tension between the management and workers continued for the third day. “MSI began assembly operations at Manesar this morning. The factory was able to roll out its first Swift since production was halted on Monday,” a company spokesperson said.

In the last two days, the company had done the ground work for resumption of work in the press, weld and paint shops by bringing in additional workers. These sections of the plant are highly automated, he added.

“The company brought in 120 ITI-trained workers this morning to the Manesar plant on a contract basis to strengthen the manpower for assembly operations,” the spokesperson said.

In addition, 50 engineers from the Gurgaon plant and 290 supervisors are working at the Manesar plant. The engineers are strengthening quality systems and preparing for a ramp-up, he said.

Production at the Manesar plant had been at a complete halt since Monday after the company decided to force workers to sign a ‘good conduct bond’ before entering the factory premises following alleged “sabotage”, resulting in quality issues that arose last week. So far, 40-odd permanent workers have signed the bond, the spokesperson said.

Yesterday, MSI suspended 16 more permanent workers, taking the total to 26, while the services of another 12 trainees were discontinued, in addition to six earlier, at the plant.

With vehicle production being completely affected for the second day, MSI has suffered an estimated production loss of about 2,400 units, valued at around Rs 120 crore till yesterday.

The workers, however, had said the management was taking these steps in “revenge” for their 13-day strike in June demanding the recognition of a new union - the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union (MSEU) - at the plant located in Haryana.

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