Describing the abnormal hike in the price of cement as conspiracy and daylight robbery, Visakhapantam North MLA of BJP P. Vishnu Kumar Raju wanted the governments at the State and at the Centre to act.
Finding fault with the timing of the hike, he said the cement manufacturers had increased the price by Rs.50 a bag on June 3, the day after the Appointed Day formalising the bifurcation of the State.
Speaking at a press conference of CREDAI here on Wednesday, he said the production was reduced from 18 lakh tonnes a month to 2.2 lakh tonnes and the hike at Rs.100 a bag meant an additional profit of Rs.360 crore a month. The price in Andhra Pradesh was being used as base price to hike it in other states.
He said though BJP was part of the government, he had submitted a representation to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the first politician to do so. He had also brought it to the notice of Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu.
He spoke to BJP Telangana president Kishen Reddy on the need to work together.
To a question, he said the argument that coal and power price went up did not hold good as they did not happen after June 1.
The MLA, a member of Builders Association of India Managing Committee, said the issue should be taken to the notice of the Central Government and the Competition Commission of India (CCI). If the hike was not rolled back, a case should be filed before CCI.
He recalled that after a steep hike in 2010, the CCI had ruled in 2012 that 11 companies had to pay Rs.6,307 crore, 50 per cent of the profit they made in that period, as fine. However, only 10 per cent was paid and an appeal was pending.
