The Hindu : Front Page : Civil Supplies to sell cement

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Thursday, Jan 03, 2008
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Civil Supplies to sell cement

Special Correspondent

Government to take over factories if cement prices are not brought down

1 lakh tonnes to be imported immediately
Price will be less by Rs.20 a bag

CHENNAI: In an attempt to make available cement at an affordable rate, the State Government on Wednesday decided that the retail sale would be carried out without any profit margin through the Civil Supplies Corporation’s godowns.

One lakh tonnes of cement would be imported immediately for sale through the corporation. Over 200 corporation godowns located in different parts of the State would store the imported cement. The import would be done by the MMTC for which the Cements Corporation would place an order.

An official release issued after a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister at the Secretariat stated that the State Government would have no option but to take over private cement factories situated in the State in the “interests of the public” if manufacturers did not bring down prices after the Government had made several efforts to contain them. A senior government official said exclusive compartments would be created at the godowns to store the cement. The Civil Supplies Corporation had the experience in retail sale of cement in 1984-1990 when the commodity was available under controlled conditions.

Asked what the price of a bag of imported cement would be, the official said that it would be less by about Rs. 20 than the market price of Rs. 240-Rs.260. The intention of the Government was to ensure the reduction in the prices so that people did not face hardship.

Another move was that the Cements Corporation would expedite the steps to import cement through global tenders. In September last, it floated bids for the import but this was cancelled as the cost issue could not be sorted out. It has again gone in for fresh bids and the last date for submission of bids is January 14, according to another official.

The meeting was attended by K. Ponmudy, Minister for Mines and Minerals; L.K. Tripathy, Chief Secretary; K. Gnanadesikan, Finance Secretary; K. Shanmugam, Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection Secretary; K. Satyagopal, Managing Director of the Cements Corporation and K. Phanindra Reddy, Managing Director of the Civil Supplies Corporation.

Welcoming the Government’s latest initiatives, J. Sethuramalingam, chairman of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry chapter of the Builders’ Association of India, wanted the authorities to pay greater attention to safety issues while handling cement at the godowns of the Civil Supplies Corporation.

He appealed to the Chief Minister to take up with the Centre the issue of containing the prices of steel.

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