PUNE: In the
wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, Tata Motors has cut down operations at its
manufacturing plant in Pune and may shut it down temporarily if the need
arises, while two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto has decided to shut down its
corporate office and factory in Chakan, “in line with the local instructions.”
Bajaj Auto has become the first automobile company in India to temporarily shut
down its plant due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The maker of Pulsar branded motorcycles, Bajaj Auto is
headquartered in Pune and banned international travel in February. “By early
March, we had curbed all travel and implemented a work-from-home policy,” said
Rakesh Sharma, executive director at Bajaj Auto. “Bare minimum manning will be
maintained for essential services.”
Maharashtra has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in India,
prompting the state government to announce an almost complete lockdown in
Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune and neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad. Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray ordered that all offices, shops and marketplaces, barring essential
services will be shut till March 31.
Tata Motors’ Pune facility is located in the Pimpri-Chinchwad
industrial belt. Commercial as well as passenger vehicles are manufactured
there.
“In the interest of safety of our employees in the state, we
have decided to rapidly scale down activities at Pune site to get to skeletal
operations by end of Monday, March 23, 2020 and be ready for plant closure by
end Tuesday March 24, if the situation warrants,” said Guenter Butschek, MD and
CEO of Tata Motors. He said Pune operations will remain in this mode till March
31, after which things will be reviewed.
Furthermore, the company will continue to closely monitor the
situation in other states where it has offices and plants and make “appropriate
and proactive decisions” should the need arise, Butschek added. Tata Motors had
already rolled out a “three-tier response plan” based on incidence of infection
in cities it operates to safeguard the lives of employees. In addition to a
strict protocol being followed at its facilities, a work-from-home policy has
also been put into place for all office-based staff.
The novel coronavirus, which first emerged in China, has now
rapidly spread across the world, killing thousands, and forcing governments to
lockdown cities and even countries, to control the pandemic.
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