Road - Tragedy in India

Here’s a strange, but very sad piece of news, car production at the Maruti Suzuki plant in India has been suspended indefinitely pending the outcome of a police investigation. A senior manager at the plant was killed and many other senior managers and officials seriously injured.

Last Wednesday mobs of car plant workers attacked senior members of staff with iron bars and car parts in a riot, which left one senior manager dead, and then set fire to the plant.

It’s not the first time there has been such confrontations in Indian auto plants although this is the most serious to date.

The Indian police have already arrested around 100 people for murder and arson, but investigations are ongoing amongst the rest of the 3,000-strong labour force.

Around two dozen senior managers are still in hospital, mostly with broken arms and legs.

Bosses at the car plant say the attacks were unprovoked, but it has been suggested that workers were under heavy pressure to improve productivity. The Indian rupee has depreciated against foreign currencies leading to the increased cost of imported components.

Kind of puts the British farmers’ action against the wholesale and milk retailers into perspective, doesn’t it?