The latest decision of the Centre to dispose of assets of Cement Corporation of India’s unit in Telangana’s Adilabad district has triggered strong protests from the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) that has been on a collision course with the Narendra Modi government for the last few months.
The Cement Corporation of India (CCI), a central government undertaking, issued a notification on May 5, inviting online electronic bids for the appointment of valuers for the valuation of assets required for the disposal of the plant, machinery along with plant’s structure, store and scrap and dismantling of quarters at its cement factories at five places including the one at Adilabad.
The bids are accepted till May 23 after which the valuers would be short-listed to assess the total value of the properties including land and machinery. Later, they would be put up for auction for disposal of the assets.
Strongly resisting the move to dispose of the assets, TRS MLC and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha on Wednesday demanded that the central government rollback its decision of auctioning the CCI plant at Adilabad.
Kavitha told reporters that it was unfortunate that the Centre had decided to destroy a cement plant that would provide employment to thousands of people. She sought to know whether the Centre was going to reinvest the sale proceeds of the CCI plant at Adilabad in Telangana or set up new factories to generate employment.
{{/usCountry}}Kavitha told reporters that it was unfortunate that the Centre had decided to destroy a cement plant that would provide employment to thousands of people. She sought to know whether the Centre was going to reinvest the sale proceeds of the CCI plant at Adilabad in Telangana or set up new factories to generate employment.
{{/usCountry}}She also asked the BJP leaders in the state to offer an explanation to the people of Telangana about the auction of the CCI unit and privatisation of Singareni Collieries and selling of other national assets.
KCR’s son and IT and industries minister KT Rama Rao on Tuesday wrote to union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal to reconsider the proposal to wind up the Adilabad CCI plant and revive the unit.
He said the Telangana government was willing to extend financial incentives if the Adilabad unit was revived. “The plant has all the facilities, including electricity, limestone reserves and plenty of water and it can be revived if sufficient working capital is arranged,” he added.
Since Adilabad was a backward district, reopening the CCI unit would aid in development of the district. It would also provide employment to local youth, especially tribals, he said.
BJP spokesman K Krishnasagar Rao said monetising the non-performing and loss-making industries, which had been closed long ago, was the policy of the central government. “But what about state government undertakings like Nizam Sugar Factory, which the TRS government has promised to revive? Instead of blaming the Modi government for everything for political gains, let KTR focus on reviving state government undertakings,” Rao said.
Meanwhile, a joint action committee comprising various political parties, people’s organisations and student unions, who have been demanding revival of the cement plant at Adilabad, burnt an effigy of the Centre as a mark of protest against the move.
Seliga Vilas, general secretary of employees’ association of Adilabad CCI, said the CCI’s order inviting tenders was a contempt of court. He said the employees had been waging a legal battle against the CCI since 1996.
Adilabad cement plant
The Adilabad plant, which has an installed capacity of 4 lakh tonnes per annum, started its commercial production in April 1984, catering to the cement requirements of the Marathwada and Vidarbha region in Maharashtra as well as north Telangana.
However, the plant, spread over 772 acres of land, became non-operational in November 1996 due to lack of working capital, despite having captive limestone deposits of 48 million tonnes in about 1,500 acres closer to the cement factory. The plant has a township of 170 acres with about 400 quarters. The coal required is available with Singareni Collieries Corporation Limited, a state-owned coal mining company.
The Adilabad plant was proposed to be closed down by offering the VRS to the employees in 2008. While many of the 5,000-odd employees were forced to accept the offer, others moved the high court. The case is still pending.