Southern States - Kerala   

Cherthala unit of Malabar Cements hit by blockade

By Our Staff Reporter

ALAPPUZHA OCT. 15. A month after it began production, the Cherthala unit of the public sector Malabar Cements Ltd. is finding it difficult to function normally following the blockade imposed by a group of people on movement of goods from the factory to other centres.

The factory began production and dispatch of cement on September 3, this year. The management said the factory had achieved a production of 500 tonne of cement per day as against the capacity of 600 tonne in the first month itself.

``But at present the normal functioning of the factory had been affected by the activities of members of lorry brokers' association,'' the company management said. According to the company officials, the association members began the blockade of lorries, which came to the factory for loading cement to be transported to various centres from the first week of October.

The company officials said the brokers demanded sums ranging from Rs. 150-200 per lorry from the transport contractors and dealers for permitting the lorries to enter the factory premises. They said the brokers had threatened the contractors of dire consequences if they failed to give the amount.

``Following this, we complained to the police and the brokers then shifted their activities from the front of the factory to another place some two km away,'' the company officials said. They alleged that the armed brokers forcibly extracted money from lorry drivers and this was leading to a difficult situation. The company officials observed that the dealers had stopped sending lorries to the factory following the threat of brokers.

``It would be difficult for the factory to continue production if the present condition persisted,'' the officials said. They also said that the State Government was losing lakhs of rupees of revenue by way of sales tax following the present blockade. Further, this would discourage industrialists from setting up new ventures in the region, they said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Antony, Karunakaran stick to their guns
• Recognition to Sanskrit varsity
• KSRTC staff to protest against privatisation
• Tension at Mayyanad as parents, ashram lay claim to woman
• Peelikode farm research centre facing crisis
• Cherthala unit of Malabar Cements hit by blockade
• State Govt. directed to file affidavit on Marad rehabilitation
• Marad: Govt. asked to file affidavit
• IUML stays away from fronts' initiative

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu