New Delhi: With Maharashtra recording the highest number of confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in India, Tata Motors is preparing for one-week complete shutdown of its Pune plant.
Tata Motors is the biggest automotive sector employer in Maharashtra with two manufacturing plants, a research centre and multiple offices in Mumbai and Pune.
If it goes ahead with its shutdown from the indicated March 24 date, Tata Motors will become the first Indian automotive company to declare a lock down of manufacturing operations due to the pandemic. Several automotive companies such as Volkswagen and BMW have already shut their Europe plants.
In a letter to the employees, managing director, Guenter Butschek said, “We have been monitoring the situation closely and all data seems to point out that Maharashtra has been the most impacted.”
“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 March 23-end (Monday) and be ready for a plant closure by March 24-end (Tuesday) as the situation warrants. We shall remain in this mode till March 31 and review it in due course,” it said.
