- Operations at plants located in Haridwar in Uttarakhand, Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh, and another one in West Bengal remain temporarily shut,
- Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and managing director, HUL, said he was confident that the company will be able to restart operations in the near future,
Hindustan Unilever Ltd is working with local authorities and ensuring testing at three plants that remain temporarily shut after several covid-19 positive cases were recently reported at these units.
Operations at plants located in Haridwar in Uttarakhand, Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh, and another one in West Bengal remain temporarily shut.
While the company declined to share details on when these plants will resume operations, HUL is testing and sanitizing these factories, a top executive at the company said.
In all, 5,000 workers (between owned and third party partners) are deployed at these factories.
“For us safety is paramount, and we believe we have in all operations set up the highest standards of safety and hygiene in the way we operate. But when we see some incidents happening of positive cases, then we go in for extensive testing-all employees. So we shut down the factory, go into the root causes, do the contact tracing, do the testing. And then after we have decontaminated the factories, then, with those people who have tested negative, we re-start the operations” Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and managing director, HUL, told reporters post the company’s earnings on Tuesday.
“There have been these three factories, but I’m very confident that we will be able to, in the near future, restart the operations,” Mehta.
Over 150 employees at HUL’s factory in Haridwar tested Covid-19 positive leading to a temporary closure of the plant earlier this week. While most are asymptomatic, the remaining majority are negative for Covid-19.
“So I’m very confident that Rajahmundry should be starting very shortly. And then also, in Haridwar, we’ve been working with the authorities,” he added.
