Members of the Civil Engineers Association of Tiruchi observed a day-long fast near the Chinthamani in the city on Tuesday urging the Centre to check the rise in prices of construction material, especially cement.
The agitation by engineers comes in the wake of the sudden spurt in price of cement over the past 10 days. “The price of a bag of cement has been increased from Rs. 320 to Rs. 380 a bag in just 10 days. There is no apparent reason for the increase, ” said T. Purushothaman, president, of the association, who led the agitation. P. Sivakumar, secretary, Federation of Civil Engineers Association of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, inaugurated the fast.
The association, while condemning the cement price increase, urged the State and Union government to establish an authority to fix cement price. It urged the Centre to set up a Civil Engineers Council on the lines of the Bar Council of India.