Pawar steps in to solve Bajaj plant row
Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar hopes some solution can be worked out at a meeting on Saturday.
By TNN |
PUNE: Bajaj Auto’s Akurdi plant, currently shut, may find a saviour in Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. Mr Pawar on Wednesday offered his services for a way out of the logjam, which has become an emotive issue for the plant workers.
He hoped that Bajaj Auto chairman Rahul Bajaj and managing director Rajiv Bajaj would attend a meeting slated to be held in Mumbai on September 8 to hammer out a solution.
If Bajaj Auto plans to use the Akurdi plant for purposes other than manufacturing scooters and motorcycles, he would ask the state government not to let them do so, the Union minister said. Mr Pawar was speaking to reporters after a meeting with state labour minister Ganesh Naik, commissioner of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, district guardian minister Ajit Pawar, president of the Bharatiya Kamgar Sena Suryakant Mahadik and Bajaj Auto trade unions’ representatives.
“The Bajaj Auto management should have taken the employees into confidence before closing the plant. While the Indian economy is growing at 9.4%, it’s not correct to close plants like this,” Mr Pawar noted.
Late last month, Bajaj Auto had announced its decision to stop vehicle production at Akurdi, citing adverse tax policy of the state government and rising octroi rates, which together led to an increase in production costs. The company avails of excise benefits at some of its other plants, including those at Waluj and Chakan.
Due to the shutdown at Akurdi plant, some 2,700 workers are being paid without any work. The plant continues to manufacture components, company officials stated. “We would like production of vehicles to resume at Akurdi,” Mr Pawar said. Akurdi falls in Mr Pawar’s constituency of Baramati and he is regarded as a close friend of Rahul Bajaj, a member of the Rajya Sabha.
Bajaj Auto has moved the production base of its ungeared scooter, Kristal, to Waluj, where it manufactures Kawasaki motorcycles and three-wheelers. Bajaj’s monthly production of the ungeared scooter, the last remnant of its legacy of being a scooter manufacturer, is low. For September, officials said, the target was 5,000 units.
The company has offered six voluntary retirement schemes at the Akurdi plant. With roughly 2,700 workers on its roll, Bajaj had announced that it would pay them for a five-and-a-half-day week for not coming to work.
He hoped that Bajaj Auto chairman Rahul Bajaj and managing director Rajiv Bajaj would attend a meeting slated to be held in Mumbai on September 8 to hammer out a solution.
If Bajaj Auto plans to use the Akurdi plant for purposes other than manufacturing scooters and motorcycles, he would ask the state government not to let them do so, the Union minister said. Mr Pawar was speaking to reporters after a meeting with state labour minister Ganesh Naik, commissioner of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, district guardian minister Ajit Pawar, president of the Bharatiya Kamgar Sena Suryakant Mahadik and Bajaj Auto trade unions’ representatives.
“The Bajaj Auto management should have taken the employees into confidence before closing the plant. While the Indian economy is growing at 9.4%, it’s not correct to close plants like this,” Mr Pawar noted.
Late last month, Bajaj Auto had announced its decision to stop vehicle production at Akurdi, citing adverse tax policy of the state government and rising octroi rates, which together led to an increase in production costs. The company avails of excise benefits at some of its other plants, including those at Waluj and Chakan.
Due to the shutdown at Akurdi plant, some 2,700 workers are being paid without any work. The plant continues to manufacture components, company officials stated. “We would like production of vehicles to resume at Akurdi,” Mr Pawar said. Akurdi falls in Mr Pawar’s constituency of Baramati and he is regarded as a close friend of Rahul Bajaj, a member of the Rajya Sabha.
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Bajaj Auto has moved the production base of its ungeared scooter, Kristal, to Waluj, where it manufactures Kawasaki motorcycles and three-wheelers. Bajaj’s monthly production of the ungeared scooter, the last remnant of its legacy of being a scooter manufacturer, is low. For September, officials said, the target was 5,000 units.
The company has offered six voluntary retirement schemes at the Akurdi plant. With roughly 2,700 workers on its roll, Bajaj had announced that it would pay them for a five-and-a-half-day week for not coming to work.
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