Committed to investments in India, says Osamu Suzuki

New Delhi, Aug 26: Suzuki Motor Corp Chairman Osamu Suzuki said on Monday that the Japanese car-maker is committed to its investments in India even as he expressed concern over the time being taken to find the cause for violence at the Manesar plant of its subsidiary

.

"In any case, Japan's Suzuki has no plans to withdraw from India nor to stop production at Manesar. We are here for the last 30 years," Suzuki told newspersons here after his meetings with Chief Ministers of Haryana and Gujarat since his arrival in India on Aug 22.

He said while he was concerned over the time being taken to find out the reason for the Jul 18 violence at Manesar that killed one senior executive and injured 100 others, the job has to be done by the Haryana Police.

"I asked Maruti Suzuki management -- isn't it taking it too long to find out the reasons? 12 executive members of the union have been arrested...it is impossible for Maruti Suzuki to get in touch with them. We have no information," he said.

It may take even six months, Suzuki said. Earlier in the day, he impressed upon Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to find out the root cause of the Manesar incident. Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) is investing Rs 2,600 crore to set up a new diesel plant, expand capacities and R&D activities in Haryana 2014. It is also investing Rs 4,000 crore in Gujarat for a new plant. Reiterating that violence was not acceptable, Suzuki said, "we are internally trying to find out if workers were dissatisfied. In case we find any such problem, we will take counter measures."

MSI Chairman RC Bhargava said that the company was already in touch with the Haryana government for land at Daruhera and on Pataudi road for facilitating housing for Manesar workers through co-operatives. Bhargava agreed that the living conditions of Manesar workers were bad because as rentals in the area had shot up, but for that MSI was not to be blamed.

PTI