SME Times News Bureau | 23 Dec, 2011
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.