SHIMLA/BILASPUR: Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu faces a first test of his administrative skill as the standoff between the Cement major Adani group and the state government and truckers’ unions continued today.
Sukhu is caught between “ a devil and a deep blue sea” as the standoff over the freight charges continues with two opposing lobbies of truckers and the new management of Adani Group remaining adamant on their stand.
There is a powerful lobby of transporters and truck operators, who wants the same freight in operation on transportation of cement and its raw material as being charged presently from the company.
As Cement plants employ directly or indirectly over 15000 people, its closure has hanged a sword over their sources of livelihoods mainly those who are in the unorganised sector or daily wagers.
This has raised the concern of the Chief Minister to resolve the matter at the earliest.
This standoff has come just four days after Sukhu took over the command of the state and sought action in keeping the cement prices low as the company had increased it by Rs 5 per bag recently.
Chief Minister, on the other, is also facing a powerful Adani cement major, who now enjoys a monopoly in supply of cement in the state as it runs the major cement plants in Himachal Pradesh.
The company claims that the state government should implement the freight rates fixed by the Permanent Standing committee of the government constituted in 2005 on the direction of the High Court.
The committee recommends the fright charges of Rs 6.00 PTPK. If the state government does not implement this then the company will engage other transporters to carry its goods from Darlaghat, the Company warns.
Third Chief Minister faces the consumers who want a cut on cement rate as they are getting costliest cement in the state despite the fact that cement is being produced from the plants located in Himachal Pradesh.
But new management of Adani Group insists that the state government should first reduce the transportation charges on cement and its raw material.
The high transportation charges have made cement expensive and Darlaghat cement plant may go unviable at the present rate of freight, the company claims.
They have no option other than either shutting down the plants or increasing the rates of cement to make it profitable for the company, the management claims.
After direction from the Chief Minister, the deputy commissioner Bilaspur and officials of state transport authorities and industries department hold talks in Bilaspur today, but the parties remained adamant on their stand and the standoff continued.
Adani had shut down all its cement plants in Bilaspur and Solan districts yesterday. The company had cited the high rate of transportation of cement and raw material as a reason for shutting down its plants.
Naresh Chauhan Principal Advisor (Media) to the Chief Minister said the Chief Minister took the matter seriously and strict instructions have been issued to the senior officials for speedy settlement of this dispute.
Chauhan said that as per the information received this dispute was first popped up between the cement companies and the transporters regarding the increase in freight charges.
