NEW DELHI // India's top carmaker Maruti Suzuki sacked more than 500 workers after staff rioted at a plant near New Delhi last month in violence that left a manager dead.
"Of the 1,500-odd regular workers, we have issued notices dispensing with their services to 500-odd so far," the company chairman RC Bhargava said yesterday.
During the riot on July 18, workers chased managers with iron rods and car parts, attacking them and torching equipment after a row between an employee and a supervisor, according to witnesses.
A personnel manager, whose legs were broken, was unable to flee and burned to death in an office area. Nearly 100 other supervisors were injured.
Mr Bhargava said that production, which was halted at the Manesar plant after the riot, would be partially re-started on August 21 with 200 anti-riot police on rolling shifts inside the factory.
"We have identified people who we believe were involved in the violence and we have lost confidence in these workers and they cannot be taken back," he said. "We intend to start step by step. We need to see how the production goes, what the workers and managers [do] and how the whole thing builds up."
Among the security measures announced yesterday was a private force of 100 ex-military guards, and protection for returning workers both at their homes and as they travel to work.
Mr Bhargava said the heavy security would provide "a great measure of comfort" for the shaken workforce.
Three days after the riot, Maruti locked out a total of 3,300 contract and temporary workers at the plant, which produces 1,500 cars a day, 40 per cent of the company's output.
Just 300 staff will return to work on the first day after the lockout, with an initial production target of 130 cars a day.
"The restart will be gradual, it will be taken up in phases," Mr Bhargava said, confirming that the police had arrested 154 people, including 12 union leaders.
Maruti is majority-owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor which receives more than a quarter of its revenues from India.
The Indian unit, the country's largest carmaker by sales, has lost some US$9 million (Dh33m) a day from the plant shutdown, analysts calculate.
The Manesar plant has a history of industrial disputes but none as violent as the July riot.
Haryana state, where the factory is located, is a hub for car production and the state government has expressed concern that the unrest could scare away investors.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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Source: American Paediatric Association
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Match info
Athletic Bilbao 0
Real Madrid 1 (Ramos 73' pen)
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Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
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