HP cement plants closure: No end in sight to stalemate between Adani Group and truckers

Over a month after shutting down its two cement plants in Himachal Pradesh on account of differences with truckers, the Adani Group has now spelt out some fresh conditions to resume production at its plants.

New conditions

The Adani Group has stated that the truckers must agree to run 50,000 km a year and reduce deployment of vehicles to 550 as compared to 3,311, besides leaving all operational decisions to the company.

Incidentally, the company had closed its plants in the hill state on December 15, just three days after Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of the Congress took over as the chief minister.

In a letter to the chairman of the Permanent Standing Committee of Himachal Pradesh on January 19, Adani Cement CEO Ajay Kapur said, “It is a very alarming situation as unions are effectively controlling and making all transport related operational decisions that belong in the domain of companies… Since the freight rate is controlled by the unions, they have artificially kept it at a very high level.”

Negotiations on for a month

Meanwhile, it has been over a month since the two parties are holding talks to end the stalemate. The recent meeting, which saw participation of Himachal Pradesh Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan, also ended on an inconclusive note on Friday.

The issue assumes great significance and is seen as a litmus test for the Sukhu government, as closure of cement plants has affected over 20,000 families in the state.

Also read: Himachal: Deadlock between Adani Cement and truckers continues over freight charges

Proposed freight rates

The genesis of the dispute lies in the new freight rate proposed by the Adani Group which is learnt to have offered Rs 6 per tonne per km (PTPK).

This is much less than the existing rate being offered by its Ambuja plant (Rs 10.58 per km) and ACC plant (Rs 11.41 per km). The group shut down its Ambuja plant at Darlaghat and ACC plant in Bilaspur after truck operators turned down its proposal.

Govt’s sub-committee

The state government has also constituted a sub-committee to find a way out and tasked HIMCON, a state-owned agency, to calculate the freight rates on the basis of a formula proposed by the High Court.

On the other hand, truckers’ union head Jai Dev Kaundal said they aren’t aware about the company’s rationale behind coming out with such a proposal, but it isn’t acceptable to them. He, however, said they will accept the HIMCON report on which they are pinning their hopes.