Cement prices to come down from the existing price band of Rs 300-Rs 325 per bag
Picture used for representation purpose. (Photo: DC/File)
Hyderabad: After nearly two months of continuous effort, the Telangana government has finally made cement producers fall in line over slashing high cement prices.
Cement firms, which were reluctant to reduce prices that have skyrocketed since June, have agreed to scale down the price by Rs 25 per bag from the existing price band of Rs 300-Rs 325 per bag.
Chief secretary Dr Rajiv Sharma held talks with representatives of the cement industry and builders for nearly five hours at the Secretariat on Wednesday.
The talks ended on a positive note as cement firms agreed to decrease prices by Rs 25 per bag, though builders and the government insisted on a price reduction of Rs 50.
Dr Sharma had earlier held meetings with cement firms thrice since June to persuade them to reduce prices. But the firms ruled out price reduction arguing that they were incurring huge losses with lower prices of Rs 200 per bag sold till May.
They said the prices have been corrected to the Rs 300 level in line with the prices in other states across the country. However, the government refused to buy this argument on the ground that the raw material required to produce cement is being sourced from the mines in AP and Telangana and cement firms do not incur additional transport expenditure in the state for the purpose. The government argued that prices in other states cannot be compared with the prices here on account of this.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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