Perennial problem at neglected township

The labour unrest at MSIL's Manesar plant on Wednesday was not a one-off incident. This is a perennial problem at the Industrial Model Township (IMT), Manesar, which houses the auto major's plant, offices and factories of hundreds of other national and multinational giants. Deevakar Anand reports.

The labour unrest at MSIL's Manesar plant on Wednesday was not a one-off incident. This is a perennial problem at the Industrial Model Township (IMT), Manesar, which houses the auto major's plant, offices and factories of hundreds of other national and multinational giants.

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Most recently, production had stopped for several days during September-October 2011 after agitating workers went on strike, demanding reinstatement of a few suspended colleagues. Maruti witnessed a 15-day strike in June last year.

Most of the company's blue-collared workforce are in their early 20s and have migrated from across the country. They are not very educated and live in clusters of dormitory-like rented houses that have come up in villages nearby.

The company - which has proper residential quarters for the employees of its Gurgaon plant - has made no arrangements for its Manesar staff. There are two Maruti factories, the old plant in Gurgaon and the other at Manesar.

More than a decade after the Manesar township - spread over 3,500 acres and housing nearly 2,000 industrial plots - was established, it does not have decent social infrastructure such as schools and residential blocks. The township's two hospitals do not even have burn wards.

Almost the entire white-collared workforce in the area commutes to work from Gurgaon and Delhi.