With either side refusing to budge in the dispute between Adani Group-owned cement plants and the truck unions, the Himachal government led by chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has stepped up efforts to end the deadlock, which is now in its second month.
Industries minister Harshwardhan Chauhan has called a meeting with the cement company management and truck operator unions to find a way out. The meeting will be held in state capital Shimla.
Production at the ACC Cement Plant, Barmana and Ambuja Cement Factory, Darlaghat, is expected to restart if talks are fruitful. The Adani group had shut down the two plants on December 14 after a dispute with the truck unions over freight charges. It impacted more than 25,000 families as hundreds of trucks went off road.
Chief minister Sukhu has authorised industries minister Harshwardhan Chauhan to resolve the issue.
Principal secretary, industries department, RD Nazim has spoken to truck operators. He said the government will not allow the interests of truck operators to be ignored.
The government is studying freight rates of neighbouring states, including Jammu and Kashmir, to come to fix the rates which are acceptable to both parties.
{{/usCountry}}The government is studying freight rates of neighbouring states, including Jammu and Kashmir, to come to fix the rates which are acceptable to both parties.
{{/usCountry}}The month-long standoff between truckers and the Adani group-owned cement companies deepened on Thursday as truckers, supported by locals, staged a protest march, halting traffic on the main Chandigarh-Manali national highway. Traffic from the highway has been has been diverted to Ghagas-Jukhala road.
About 5,000 truckers from Darlaghat in Solan district and Barmana in Bilaspur staged a 12 km long protest march from Nauni to Bilaspur deputy commissioner’s office.
Bilaspur district truck society head Rakesh Thakur said due to the standoff, hundreds of locals who depended on cement plants were facing a livelihood crisis.