Maruti Suzuki Joint Venture Krishna Maruti has handed over the first batch of 2 lakh units of triple-ply face masks to the Gurugram Administration. As part of a CSR initiative, the face masks were handed over to Amit Khatri, IAS, District Magistrate, Gurugram and V.S Kundu ACS Haryana & CEO GMDA by Mr. Ram Natarajan, ED & CEO, on behalf of Ashok Kapur, Chairman Krishna Group, in the presence of Rajiv Gandhi, Member Executive Board, Maruti Suzuki.
In end-March 2020, Maruti Suzuki got a request from the Haryana and Central Government if it could use its production infrastructure in developing and producing protective face masks in large numbers in the fight against COVID-19. The manufacturing of a car uses a vast number of materials, production processes and technologies across its value chain. With this confidence and without any knowledge of the product test specifications, Chairman R.C Bhargava in a phone call with JV partner Ashok Kapur committed to develop and produce triple ply face masks. After intensive work by engineers of Maruti Suzuki and Krishna Group with almost hourly monitoring by Maruti Suzuki management and active support by Department of Textiles, Government of India the mask was finally approved by SITRA laboratory. Before handing over, a few days of mass production was undertaken to gain confidence in the manufacturing set-up.
Speaking on the initiative, Ashok Kapur, Chairman, Krishna Group said “It is a time of national crisis and this is our duty to the nation. We have committed 1 million masks each to Haryana and Gujarat Governments. I am also planning to import some machines and produce N-95 masks. All important safety and physical distancing guidelines have been observed while manufacturing these masks to ensure the safety of all the staff.”
Kenichi Ayukawa, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India, said, “We had committed to support the Government with protection gear and masks even though the test specifications and process technology were not known. My message to all our teams was – some doctor, some nurse will be depending upon our product, so please give top priority to quality and performance testing. Kapur and his team have been successful.”
Amit Khatri, IAS, District Magistrate, Gurugram, said, “My compliments to Maruti Suzuki and Krishna Maruti for this very timely assistance which will come very handy not just for Gurugram but for the entire State in this time of crisis.”
