- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
APPLE Inc supplier Foxconn’s plant in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu will reopen on Wednesday (12), government officials and a lawmaker in the area where the plant is located told Reuters.
The plant, which is located in Sriperumbudur near the state capital of Chennai, was shut on December 18 after protests erupted after 250 of its workers fell ill with food poisoning. The plant employed about 17,000 people.
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K Selvaperunthagai, the lawmaker from Sriperumbudur from the Indian National Congress, said the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin, told the assembly later on Friday (7) that the plant would reopen on Wednesday.
Food poisoning at Foxconn’s India unit triggers protest
He also told the news outlet that the state government would build a hostel facility to accommodate tens of thousands of workers from various industries to address the concerns about standards of the dormitories and dining facilities.
“The government is clear that they don’t want such incidents to happen again,” said.
On Monday (10), Apple said the Foxconn India plant continued to be on probation, adding that it would continue monitoring conditions at the workers’ living and eating areas, along with independent auditors.
“Workers will start to return gradually as soon as we are certain our standards are being met in every dormitory and dining area,” the US multinational said in a statement.
Foxconn, which is officially known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd, said: “We have implemented a range of corrective actions to ensure this cannot happen again and a rigorous monitoring system to ensure workers can raise any concerns they may have, including anonymously.”
Foxconn, which is headquartered in Taiwan, has been making iPhone 12 and testing production of iPhone 13 at the Tamil Nadu facility – its only plant in India – government officials said.
Apple has eight other suppliers in India.
An informed source told Reuters that the facility will resume functioning with not more than 100 people and could take more than two months to see full production.
The Hindu reported that less than 100 workers at the Foxconn plant have come back to one of the dormitories. The local management has also seen a change after the controversy erupted.
The Tamil Nadu government held talks with Foxconn management and asked them to ensure that all safety norms are being followed.
