Manesar plant closure has cascading effect on small biz

“ Saheb Maruti nahi, toh kuchh nahi (Sir, if there is no Maruti, there is nothing for us),” says Dauda, aged around 50, who hails from Rajasthan.

He has a shop in Baans village, within 100 metres of Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar facility.

He has been supplying sand and cement to the various smaller companies and villages in Manesar for the past few years. However, he fears he may soon have to shut shop and move back to Rajasthan, as he has heard that “Maruti is moving to Gujarat or Gwalior.”

Dauda used to earn around Rs 15,000, but this has now come down to around Rs 10,000.

He says if Maruti’s Manesar plant shuts down, other companies surrounding it will also close down as all of them are sole suppliers to Maruti.

“If the parent leaves, the kids will follow,” he adds.

Last Wednesday afternoon, at least 10 multi-wheeled trucks were stranded outside Maruti’s Manesar facility, which may have been used for transporting cars to dealers.

Each truck had a billboard with a Maruti Suzuki logo and a tagline, ‘Count on Us’.

This slogan could not be more apt, for, the entire area’s economy revolves around India’s number one car maker.

Three villages surround the Manesar plant – Aliyar, Baans and Dhaanda – where its 3,000 casual workers were staying. However, all of them fled on the night of July 18, after violence at the plant led to the death of a general manager.

When asked, no one in these three villages was ready to talk about how and why the violence occurred.

All they were worried about was that the economy of their villages was badly hit. Not just the house-owners, but also the shopkeepers, barbers and cobblers said their earnings had plunged after July 18.

“At least 800 workers were staying here, but all of them left that night. They were from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,” says Devinder, a kirana shop owner from Aliyar village.

His shop was among the few that existed before the Manesar plant came up, after which many stores mushroomed in the area. All these now face losses.

A villager said the growing number of workers also led to construction and expansion of houses, which were let out on rent.

For many, rents from workers, ranging between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000, were a steady source of income. However, these rooms are now locked.

Many of these villagers pin their hopes on the plant restarting and normalcy returning.

“I just hope it starts before the festival season and I can sell as many clothes as I did last year,” says Manoj, a small garment shop owner.

>ronendrasingh.s@thehindu.co.in

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