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HP govt to now buy cement from UltraTech
The closure of plants has brought many development works to a grinding halt in HP, which has requirement of 6,000 tonnes of cement
With no headway in talks between the truck unions and officials of Adani Group owned companies that shut down operations at the cement plants in Bilaspur’s Barmana and Solan’s Darlaghat, the Himachal Pradesh government on Saturday decided to buy cement from UltraTech.
The closure of plants has brought many development works to a grinding halt in the state, which has requirement of 6,000 tonnes of cement.
Most of the government’s godowns have run out of stock as the dispute between the companies and truck operators over freight charges remains unresolved. The issue has also disrupted the supply of cement to wholesalers.
The state’s civil supplies corporation, which purchases cement from companies on rate contracts, has also written to the public works, rural development and Jal Shakti departments to make alternative arrangements for buying cement to continue the development works.
Civil supply corporation’s managing director KC Chaman said the demand for cement has increased due to the closure of the plants. “The corporation has more than 118 cement godowns in the state, but stocks at many of them have dried up ,” he said, adding that the corporation would build more facilities for the storage purpose.
The public works department (PWD) has sought 500 tonnes of cement while the panchayati raj department is in need of 100 tonnes to continue its ongoing works.
“The cement companies have been issued notices and asked to reply within seven days. The government is keeping tabs on the situation. The chief minister has directed the director general of police to ensure that the law and order is maintained since the protest is getting shriller by day. The issue is between the company and truckers, but government officials are mediating to resolve it at the earliest,” said Himachal chief minister‘s principal media adviser Naresh Chauhan on Saturday.
Though the state government has requested UltraTech company to supply cement, the commodity might be bought from outside the state if the dispute is not resolved.
Meanwhile, protests were held outside the plants at Barmana and Darlaghat. The truck unions have called a meeting on Sunday at both plants to chalk out their further strategy.
Impact on projects
At present, work on 150 small and big projects of PWD is going on in the state. These include construction of mini-secretariats, bridges, roads, engineering colleges, schools, ITIs, and hospitals.
Work being carried out by the technical education department at more than 25 sites has also been affected. These include IGMC's cancer hospital in Shimla, ITI Jalog, ITI Sangrah, polytechnic college Chamba, engineering and pharmacy colleges in Nagrota Bagwan among others.
There are total 14 big and small cement plants in Himachal Pradesh with the Adani Group’s Darlaghat and Barmana facilities being the major suppliers, while UltraTech plant, which was acquired from the Jaypee Group, is the third largest cement producer in the state.
