Although schools, colleges and universities in Gurugram have been shut down and corporate companies, such as IT firms, have allowed their employees to work from home in view of the COVID-19 scare, hundreds of garments and automotive units across the city are at a disadvantage as their workforce live in unhygienic conditions and do not have the luxury of staying back at home.
These units are trying to fight the deadly virus with a three-pronged strategy — “precaution, education and counselling”.
CEO of Neetee Apparel LLP Animesh Saxena said a majority of their staff are staying in unhygienic conditions around the industrial area and their biggest fear is that any rumour can lead to a mass exodus as most of the workers are migrants from Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Group talk
Mr. Saxena said in a bid to address this concern, 25 garment exporters came together and formed a WhatsApp group to share the best practices in the industry and the information related to the coronavirus. “This also helped us negotiate the prices to buy sanitisers and masks in bulk for the workers,” said Mr. Saxena, adding that counselling sessions on personal hygiene are being conducted daily.
Mr. Saxena said all the workers are screened for fever before entering the premises, made to wear masks and told to frequently wash their hands. “The factory floors are disinfected in the morning and the supervisors have been asked to inform us about any worker showing flu symptoms. The masks are collected after duty hours and washed every day to be used the next day. It is a huge task and has added to our financial burden,” said Mr. Saxena, who employs around 700 people at his garment manufacturing unit in Udyog Vihar Phase-I.
Manesar Industries Welfare Association vice-president Manmohan Gaind said they have issued an advisory to the members to sensitise employees about the spread of coronavirus. “We have advised the members to keep sanitisers at the reception desk from tomorrow. It was not possible earlier since sanitisers were in short supply,” said Mr. Gaind. He said that employees are allowed leave in case of illness or any ailing family member. “Though our workforce are not well-educated, they are aware because of social and mainstream media. But they have a casual approach towards hygiene,” he said.
Maruti Suzuki India Limited, with its facilities in Gurugram and Manesar, has introduced a host of measures, including regular advisories and bulletins from the Chief Medical Officers on dos and don’ts related to the disease. “Employees across plants, regional offices are being advised to extensively use teleconferencing and videoconferencing facilities. They are requested to declare their travel history if they have been overseas in the last two weeks and impose self-quarantine as per the instructions of the CMO,” said MSIL spokesperson.
Maruti Udyog Kamgaar Union general secretary Kuldeep Jhangu said the employees now greet each other with namaste instead of handshake and the company buses are disinfected on a daily basis.
