Civil Supplies to sell cement

In an attempt to make available cement at an affordable rate, the State Government on Wednesday decided that the retail sale would be carried out without any profit margin through the Civil Supplies Corporation’s godowns.
One lakh tonnes of cement would be imported immediately for sale through the corporation. Over 200 corporation godowns located in different parts of the State would store the imported cement. The import would be done by the MMTC for which the Cements Corporation would place an order.
An official release issued after a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister at the Secretariat stated that the State Government would have no option but to take over private cement factories situated in the State in the “interests of the public” if manufacturers did not bring down prices after the Government had made several efforts to contain them. A senior government official said exclusive compartments would be created at the godowns to store the cement. The Civil Supplies Corporation had the experience in retail sale of cement in 1984-1990 when the commodity was available under controlled conditions.