Cement price: BJP govt puts the ball in PM's court

SHIMLA: In a clever move to avoid criticism on the issue of exorbitant cement rates in the state, especially by opposition Congress party, chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal on Monday has thrown the ball in the court of UPA government by requesting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to bring cement under the list of controlled items. With this tactical move, now the state government can counter the opposition attack by blaming the Centre for failing to do the needful.
Congress legislators rocked the proceedings of recently concluded assembly session at Dharamshala on the issue while dissidents from BJP, who have floated Himachal Bhrashtachar Mukti Morcha (HBMM), have already cornered the state government for cement price being higher than Punjab. And now, CPIM had decided to hold statewide demonstrations on the issue on January 9.
Knowing that failure to curb cement price could prove dear in the assembly elections, which are due in the second half of this year, the state government has now asked the Centre to do the needful. Chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in a letter written to the PM stated that cement produced in the hill state was available at cheaper rates in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana, which was a matter of concern for the state government.
Dhumal requested the Prime Minister to bring cement under the purview of the Essential Commodities Act so that it could be provided to consumers at reasonable rates. He said that it was in 2002 that cement was excluded from the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, to facilitate market competition in production and marketing. "But, instead of benefitting consumers in the state, it had harmed them. Cement companies had been fixing retail selling prices at various locations in the state in an arbitrary and irrational manner and as a result an ironical situation had arisen even as there are three major cement producing companies operating from the state," he said.
Dhumal has written that the state assembly had debated the issue extensively and all members were of the view that cement prices in the state need rationalization with the intervention of the state government to protect the interests of the consumers.