Ambuja cement management closes its unit at Darlaghat

Following the ACC at Barmana in Bilaspur in Himachal, the management of Ambuja Cement Factory has also closed its all operations at Darlaghat in Solan district.  The decision of the management to close down the unit would certainly deepen the crisis of cement in the state. Taking the decision of closing both the plants of Ambuja suddenly on Wednesday night, the company has issued an order to the employees not to come to the factory from today. After this, an uncertainty and crisis of employment over two thousand employees working in this company has started prevailing. Along with this, about three thousand truck operators, drivers and conductors will also be out of work. This would also further lead to deepening of crisis on the direct and indirect employment of about 15 thousand people. Notably, a dispute was going on between the company management and the office bearers of the Truck Operators Societies concerning hike in freight charges in factory. The management took this decision after yesterday’s meeting remained inconclusive. Company’s General Manager Rajesh Lakhanpal has confirmed the closure of the cement factory indefinitely. The Ambuja Cement Plant has recently been acquired by the Adani Group. The company had asked truck operators societies engaged in transportation of cement, clinker and raw materials to reduce the freight charges. The company said through the letter that they are not ready to pay the freight at the current rates as it is increasing the cost of production of cement. Due to this the company is facing loss. If this situation continues, cement production will have to be stopped. The company says that on October 18, 2005, the government had fixed the freight rate at Rs 6 per ton per kilometer. Hence, truckers must follow the earlier decision. The rate was discussed in the meeting between the office bearers of the company and the societies. Societies said that freight charges are due to increase from the year 2019. When the government had fixed the freight charges that when the rates of diesel would increase, the freight would also increase in the same proportion. Due to this controversy, the company decided to stop the production. Ramakrishna Sharma, former head of the Baghal Land Loser Truck Operators Society, said that there will be an emergency meeting of truck operators on December 16 regarding this matter. Meanwhile, the deputy commissioner Solan Kritika Kulhari today convened a meeting with company representatives that was not attended by transporters.