Builders and civil engineers in Thanjavur took out a rally here on Tuesday to condemn the rise in prices of cement and other construction material and urged the State government to rein in the errant cement manufacturers who deliberately increase the prices.
The protesters coming under the aegis of the Builders' Association of India as also the Thanjavur District Civil Engineers’ and Architects Association, stakeholders of the construction industry, including engineers, architects, and workers went on a rally from the Sivaganga Park to the Panagal Buildings to highlight their demands.
Their charter of demands included efforts by the State government to stem the unjust price increase by cement manufacturers, rein in the stifling rise in cost of all building material, implementing and broad-basing the Amma Cement scheme, ensuring that river sand was available at an affordable price in adequate quantities and nationalise those cement manufacturing companies that did not heed the government’s directive on pricing issue.
The builders claimed that for the past one month the construction industry had been facing a severe crunch on account of unjust and continued rise in price of cement. They alleged that the cement manufacturers had formed a cartel and were fleecing the public.
Negative impact
Besides adversely affecting the private construction, the cement price increase had negatively impacted the ongoing constructions of public structures, including bridges, roads, and government buildings resulting in works getting stalled midway. To set things right, the State government must act immediately, they urged.
President of the Thanjavur Chapter of the Builders’ Association of India G.Somasundara Bharathi led the protest rally in which president of the Civil Engineers and Architects Association J.John Kennedy, the former State general secretary of the Federation of Civil Engineers Associations of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry S.Rajendran, its former secretary N.T.Balasundaram, former BAI Tamil Nadu Chairman V.Rajagopal, and the BAI former National Vice-President K.Padmanabhan participated.
“The cement manufacturers have formed a cartel and are fleecing the public”
