 "Probe Renault-Nissan plant's social distancing: Madras High Court")
The Madras High Court on Tuesday asked the Tamil Nadu government to inspect a Renault-Nissan plant on July 3 to check if social distancing norms were being followed there.
The Renault-Nissan workers’ union petitioned in the court last month, seeking to halt operations, saying that social distancing norms were being flouted and the company-provided health benefits were outweighed by the risk to their lives.
The call for an inspection from the HC follows a review of Ford, Hyundai and Renault-Nissan plants by the state government officials last week, which said the nature of work in assembly lines posed “challenges in maintaining social distancing”.
Nissan, which owns a majority stake in the Renault-Nissan plant near Chennai, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A lawyer for Renault-Nissan India told the court that the company would implement guidelines issued by officials from the state’s Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health (DISH) ahead of the inspection next month.
The guidelines apply to all carmakers, including Ford and Hyundai. However, only the Renault-Nissan factory will be inspected as unions at other automakers have not raised objections, the court said.
The DISH review last week had also found that three in four workers at the plants had not been vaccinated, one in seven workers had contracted the virus, and 21 had died.
Workers at the three plants accounted for more than 4 per cent of all active cases in the two districts where the plants are located.
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