Fresh trouble at Maruti Suzuki plant in Gurgaon

Fresh trouble is brewing at car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki's plant here as workers' unions and management have locked horns over the suspension of a union leader for allegedly slapping an engineer at work.

The Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) management has suspended Maruti Suzuki Kamgar Union (MSKU) general secretary Kuldeep Janghu for allegedly slapping Sharad Kumar, 27, an engineer at the company's Gurgaon plant.

An internal inquiry against Janghu has also been ordered and the union leader will remain suspended until the outcome of the probe.

On Tuesday, union leaders from all the four plants of Suzuki held a meeting at the Gurgaon plant campus and demanded the cancellation of suspension orders against Janghu immediately.

"Janghu has been an active participant during the CSR events of the company and other social activities but slapping an engineer at work was total indiscipline and company will never tolerate these," a company spokesperson told IANS.

Mechanical engineer Sharad Kumar had an argument with his junior Amod Kumar (casual worker) over some work after which the matter was reported to the union.

Janghu reached the place on Monday night and allegedly slapped Sharad for not replying to questions asked by the union leader.

However while speaking to IANS, Janghu denied the allegations and said that the management was responsible for the current crisis.

Maruti Suzuki had faced union trouble earlier too. On July 18, 2012, unrest at the company's Manesar plant had resulted in the death of senior executive Avnish Kumar Dev.

The company had sacked 546 permanent workers along with 2,500 casual staff in response.