Include cement in essential commodities: Dhumal
December 22nd, 2011 - 9:49 pm ICT by IANSDharamsala, Dec 22 (IANS) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal Thursday asked the central government to include cement in the list of essential commodities to check its rising prices.
“I will write to the prime minister to bring back cement in the list of controlled items as it is mainly used for developmental activities,” Dhumal said, while replying in the state assembly to the opposition Congress’s accusations of the government extending undue concessions to cement companies.
The hill state is home to half a dozen mega cement plants, but consumers in the state continue to pay high prices for cement, higher than in neighbouring Punjab.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ramesh Dhawala said the rates of cement in the state vary from company to company and the freight rates were high.
He said according to information available with him, each bag of cement costs the company around Rs.158.
“In fact, it should not cross more than Rs.250 per bag. This includes all taxes,” the minister said.
Dhawala said there was no provision to check the prices as cement was deleted from the list of essential commodities in 2002 by the central government.
“Now the prices are only controlled by free market practices,” he added.
He said Ambuja is selling a bag of cement from Rs.309 to Rs.350, ACC from Rs.305.98 to Rs.354 and Jaypee from Rs.295 to Rs.326.
The state already has four mega cement plants - Barmana (ACC), Darlaghat (Ambuja), Rajban (CCI) and Bagha (Jaypee). The aggregate capacity is 10.66 million tonne.
Besides, four projects are in the pipeline. They would produce additional 7.27 million tonne.
- Cement price in Himachal reduced - Jan 05, 2012
- Himachal wants cement put on controlled commodity list - Jan 02, 2012
- Himachal's cement production to go up - Mar 22, 2012
- Truckers strike continues in Himachal - Oct 20, 2010
- Graft, scams hog limelight in Himachal assembly (Himachal Pradesh Newsletter) - Apr 01, 2012
- Heated exchanges in Himachal house on pulses scheme - Mar 28, 2012
- Ambuja Cements' third plant commissioned in Himachal - Mar 28, 2010
- Check cement price rise in Chhattisgarh, demands Congress - Nov 22, 2011
- Protest in Chhattisgarh over rising cement prices - Jan 11, 2012
- Himachal favouring business group, says Congress - Apr 04, 2011
- Chhattisgarh politicians fume as cement prices rise again - Feb 04, 2012
- Jaypee's commissions cement plant in Himachal Pradesh - Jan 14, 2010
- Himachal earns over Rs.130 crore from cement firms - Apr 06, 2011
- Rollback hike in petrol prices: Dhumal - Sep 16, 2011
- Andhra allots 1,000 acres for Prism Cement plant - Oct 29, 2011
Tags: accusations, cci, cement plants, central government, chief minister, civil supplies minister, commodities, concessions, dharamsala, freight rates, half a dozen, jaypee, market practices, opposition congress, pipeline, prime minister, ramesh, rs 250, state assembly, tonne