With state governments across the country giving clearance to major manufacturing companies to restart their functioning during the third phase of the lockdown, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) on Thursday announced it has resumed operations at a plant based near Chennai.

The company in a statement said it was able to restart phase-wise operations at the plant in less than 24 hours after receiving permission from local authorities as it had started intensive preparation even before the lockdown in India came into effect in March.

With an aim to contain spread of COVID-19, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi initially announced a complete 21-day nationwide lockdown on March 23, which was later extended till May 3. During this period, government had closed all businesses except the ones that provide essential services and goods to the masses.

Now the lockdown has entered in the third stage by another two weeks till May 17. But this time, in order to curb the economic slowdown, the government has given relaxation to a number of businesses including the manufacturing sector to restart their functioning.

Commenting on the resumption of operations, DICV Managing Director & CEO Satyakam Arya said, “Being part of the Daimler global network allowed us to see the implications of COVID-19 well before the lockdown was announced here in India. We immediately initiated a Crisis Management Team (CMT) to steer us safely through this difficult situation.”

The company has also initiated hundreds of health, safety and sanitisation measures over the last few months, ranging from mass cleaning of DICV’s 400 acre Oragadam plant, near Chennai, to renovations of facilities designed to ensure social distancing norms are followed.

Other that that, DICV has also made arrangements to keep a track of its 4,000 workers’ health and safety.

“The company is ramping up gradually with a minimum workforce of essential employees to start with, then a planned move to full capacity as and when the lockdown ends,” it added.

Apart from the plant, the company said, dealerships across the country have already begun to reopen as local restrictions ease, ensuring BharatBenz customers have access to the free service and warranty extensions the company began offering at the start of the crisis.

BharatBenz is a brand of Daimler India Commercial Vehicles.