Bajaj Auto workers are demanding the temporary shutdown of one of its plants located in Western Maharashtra after 250 people tested positive for coronavirus, the union revealed on Saturday as cited in the Reuters report.

The cases come as the state of Maharashtra crossed 2 lakh mark of Covid-19 cases. However, the company, which is India’s biggest exporter of motorbikes, had just resumed its work after the coronavirus-induced lockdown and struggle to ramp up operations.

It wrote a letter to its employees stating that those who do not come for work will not get paid by the company. “If an employee remains absent at office or plant due to any reason despite being asked by the company ... then his/her salary would be deducted 100% during the period,” Bajaj said in the letter to employees. The company further said work there would not be stopped and employees should learn to “live with the virus”.

“People are scared to come to work. Some are still coming but some are taking leave,” said Thengade Bajirao, president of the Bajaj Auto Workers’ Union, to Reuters . The company informed on June 26 that 140 of around 8,000 staff at the plant had caught the virus and two had died.

An official in Aurangabad district, overseeing the Waluj area where the plant is located, said the number of cases had now gone up to more than 250. “We requested the company to temporarily close the plant for 10-15 days to break the cycle but they said there is no point as people will continue to gather for social events outside of work,” the Bajaj union’s Bajirao said.

The plant located in Waluj, Maharashtra accounts for over 50 per cent of Bajaj’s manufacturing volume in India. The plant has a production capacity of 3.3 million motorbikes and other vehicles, Reuters report added.

With an annual production capacity of over 3.3 million motorbikes and other vehicles, the Waluj plant accounts for more than 50 per cent of Bajaj’s manufacturing volume in India.

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