Manesar unrest: Why villagers desperately want Maruti to stay

Representatives of nearly 200 villages gathered at Manesar on Monday and condemned Maruti factory workers for the riot that took place on Wednesday in which one general manager was burnt to death, while 100 others were injured.

The villagers also called for a peaceful resolution to the stand-off between the company and its workers.

The villages depend heavily on Maruti for their livelihood as 3,000 residents are employed there.

They are now worried that they may lose their source of livelihood if Maruti decides to shut shop because of a series of labour crises.

This is the first time that Maruti has been forced to shut down a factory. The lockout will not only hit workers at the Manesar plants but also affect about 1.9 lakh workers of at least 50 ancillaries.

Industrial Model Township (IMT)Manesar employs nearly three-and-a-half lakh workers in the organised sector, most of them come from nearby villages like Manesar, Kho and Baas Kushla. Out of the 2,020 industrial units in the (IMT), about 40 of them depend on Maruti for sustenance.

“But with fears that companies will shift base to more industry-friendly states, the villagers feel they have too much to lose,” said a CNN IBN report today.

Not just transport contracts but rent from company employees for letting out their rooms has been the main source of income for more than 200 villages.

“If the plant does not open soon, villagers employed with the company will reach the brink of starvation. This incident is condemnable. We are with Maruti and its management because Maruti made Gurgaon district prosperous in the 1980s. We also demand a high-level probe into the issue because it all happened under a political conspiracy,” Om Prakash Yadav, ex-sarpanch of Manesar village told Times of India .

Expressing concerns over reports of Maruti Suzuki moving out of Manesar, Dhana village Sarpanch, Moolchand told PTI “We will not allow the company and the Government to shift the plant out of Manesar.”

The company management has already denied that it was moving out of Manesar and said it was committed to the investments it had announced to be made in Haryana.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is likely to meet the Panchayat leaders and Maruti officials today.

The police have arrested 100 workers for being part of the mob but are yet to name the chief instigator, who would face murder charges.