One killed, 40 injured in clashes at Indian car plant

Skooter reporting 07/19/12

On Thursday, India's top car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki suspended its production at a plant near New Delhi after workers attacked managers, one person dead and many were injured, a company executive said.

The manager, who refused to be named, told reporters that a burnt body had been recovered from the Manesar plant's main conference room after hostility broke out late Wednesday. It was reported that the dead body has not been identified because it was badly burnt beyond recognition.

In an earlier reports the carmaker, majority owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor, said workers had set property on fire, turned upside down offices and damaged facilities. A couple of Japanese executives were wounded in the fracas and have been admitted to a private hospital for treatment, said another manager.

The company said the debate began Wednesday morning when a shop floor employee beat up a supervisor due to his “objectionable remarks” The workers’ union then didn’t cooperate with the management from taking disciplinary action and blocked managers from leaving the factory after work.

There were 80 workers arrested at the factory Wednesday night, after the violence in which nine police officers were injured, Deputy police commissioner Maheshwar Dayal said.

The Manesar plant, is about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from New Delhi, it employs 2,000 people, and regularly produces up to 1,200 of Maruti's top-selling Swift and A-Star hatchbacks and SX4 sedans daily.

AFP