Guwahati: The price of cement across all brands have gone up by Rs 30
per bag in Assam. This has happened in just 15 days. The construction and real
estate sectors which were already reeling under extreme stress due to COVID lockdown has accused the industry lobby for engineering the sudden price hike
and is also not happy about the fact that the Assam government is acting like a
mute spectator.
The stark silence
being maintained by the Assam government is also raising many questions because
on one hand, the Central government is announcing steps to boost the economy,
consumption and spending and on the other hand if prices of commodities
continue to soar it would definitely defeat all that the Centre is trying to
accomplish.
A section of the
construction sector is alleging that Kailash Chandra Lohia, Chairman, and
Managing Director (CMD) of Topcem Cement is behind this sudden, significant
rise in cement prices. Allegations are being levelled against him that due to
his political connections he played a role in increasing the prices to benefit a certain section of industry and certain political parties ahead of Assam elections next year.
Interesting to note
that cement from companies like Lafarge and ACC is produced in South India, and
is transported to Assam by train. The price is only Rs 350 per bag. The local
brands of cement being produced in Guwahati and who do not even have to pay GST
are prices at Rs 420 a bag.
Brands such as Star
Cement, Dalmia, Birla Gold, Topcem, Surya Gold, Max, Black Tiger, Amrit and
others have all jacked up their prices.
The price of one bag of Star, Dalmiya, and TomCem cement was Rs 390 on November 1, on November 15, the price had gone up to Rs 420.
Similarly, a bag of Surya Gold,Max, Black Tiger, and Amrit cement were prices at Rs 370. It went up to Rs 390 per bag by November 15.
The price of rods also
has been hiked up to Rs 5000 per ton in the past 15 days.
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