Gurgaon: Maruti plant production on halt after leopard spotted on site

Manesar, which is located 20 kilometres from Gurgaon, houses one of the biggest of Maruti Suzuki’s manufacturing plants, where vehicles such as Swift, Swift Dzire and Ertiga are produced.

Production at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant was halted after a leopard was spotted on the premises on Thursday morning. The leopard was not traced till the evening, keeping the staff, wildlife officials and the police on their toes.

Despite being spotted in the CCTV footage, the leopard was not traced till the evening, keeping the staff, wildlife officials and the police on their toes. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Manesar, which is located 20 kilometres from Gurgaon, houses one of the biggest of Maruti Suzuki’s manufacturing plants, where vehicles such as Swift, Swift Dzire and Ertiga are produced.

The plant is spread across 600 acres and on an average 5,000 engines are made every day, according to Kuldeep Janghu, Maruti worker union’s leader.

“In each shift, the plant produces more than 1,600 engines. However, production was halted after a leopard was spotted in a CCTV camera footage,” Janghu said.

The Maruti plant operates throughout the day and employs workers in three shifts — 6.30am to 3pm, 3pm to 12.30am and 12.am to 6.30am. More than 2,000 people are employed in each shift.

Though the workers were not allowed to enter the unit, however, they were seen waiting patiently outside the factory as they were worried about their wage and attendance.

“We are supposed to mark our attendance every day. Else, we will lose the wages for the day,” said Amit Kumar, a worker, at the site.

Another worker, Pradeep Yadav, said, “The night shift workers were asked to vacate the premises and we were not allowed inside. We have no idea what to do.”

More than 2,000 workers remained outside the plant for the entire day hoping that they will be allowed to enter anytime.

At 3.30pm, those working in the afternoon shift exited the plant as they were also informed of the leopard sighting.

“The leopard was spotted at the Engine Plant of the unit. Work will be restarted once the animal is captured safely,” Naresh Yadav, security head, Maruti Suzuki factory.