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A fortnight after the Adani Group suspended its operations in two cement plants, Ambuja Darlaghat in Solan and ACC Barmana in Bilaspur districts, for an indefinite period blaming high freight rate, crucial talks between government sub-committee, truckers and company officials remained inconclusive.
The Himachal Pradesh government had constituted a sub-committee week after the shutdown of officers comprising the director of industries, director of transport and director of food and civil supplies to end the impasse.
“Discussions are on at all levels. Hopefully, the deadlock will end soon,” said the director, industries, Rakesh Kumar Prajapati. The sub-committee is working out the transportation cost which would be mutually acceptable to both the companies and the truck unions. At present, the transportation rate for per quintal of cement is ₹10.58 per km in hilly areas and ₹5.38 in the plains. The truck unions and company officials have held several rounds of the meeting after the impasse, but both have voiced “substantive “differences. The company had initially offered ₹6 for hills. The state government is keen that the Cement company brings down the cost of cement in Himachal. The transportation cost of cement is more in Barmana in Bilaspur at ₹11. 20 paise. The sub-committee will submit its report to the government soon.
“The losses are heavy for both cement company as well as truck owners. Each truck owner suffered a loss between ₹3,000 and ₹4,000 daily. Truck unions are waiting for the government to take a call on the new freight rates. The government pays ₹9.60 paise per quintal per km for the government supply of cement,” said Jai Dev Kaundal, president, Solan District Transport Cooperative Society. Around 25,000 families are directly and indirectly dependent on the cement plant for earning their livelihood. The company has 530 regular employees and 450 contractual employees. Around 3,800 truck operators work at the cement factory in Barmana, of which 2,300 drivers are affiliated with the Bilaspur District Truck Operator Transport Co-operative Society and 1,500 with the ex-servicemen association. Similarly, around 2,000 truckers work for the cement factory in Darlaghat.
All of them will lose their livelihood once the plants shut down. Besides, 600 mechanics and puncture repair shops between Bilaspur and Swaraghat and small eateries in the belt depend on the truckers.
The Himachal Pradesh government had issued a show-cause notice to the two cement companies owned by the Adani Group. The show-cause notice stated that the company stopped operations without any advance notice to the state government thus putting a question mark on the livelihood of thousands of stakeholders who are engaged in transportation and other allied activities.
Meanwhile, the Adani cement company ran a road safety programme for truckers in Darlaghat.
Under the company’s ‘Safety Champion Drivers 2022’ programme, 20 truck drivers were selected for the award and now have been recognised for their safe driving skills. Manoj Jindal, cluster head- North, Adani Cement, said, “We engage with truck drivers in all our plants regularly to institutionalise safe driving habits through Driver Management Centre (DMC). We recognise and reward the best set of drivers for safety parameters. We also leverage this platform to share highlights of the month including the learning of any safety-related incident through the toolbox talk.”
The driver’s recognition programme was organised by the plant logistics safety team of Ambuja Cements. The driver management centre programme is a great engagement platform where the plant logistics team addresses the concerns of truck drivers and also guides them on future delivery efficiency.
Both the ACC and Ambuja Cements have been regularly engaging with truck drivers at all their plants for institutionalising safe driving habits through driver management centre, where the best set of drivers are recognised and rewarded. The drivers are also updated on the learnings of any safety incidents.
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