As per the plan when its foundation was laid in 1972, the CCI Adilabad cement factory was to run for over 100 years, the estimated time for lime stone deposit in its vicinity to last. It nevertheless, ran only for 14 years, limping in the last four years.
The unit was established at a cost of about ₹ 50 crore and it has 772 acres of land, 470 of which constitute limestone quarry. The land was acquired by the Government at ₹ 4,000 per acre and now commands between ₹ 10 lakh and ₹ 15 lakh per acre.
It was in August 1982, a decade after construction work started, that the unit first produced cement and went into commercial production two years later. The factory registered profits between 1991 and 1993 but the effect of economic liberalisation started showing subsequently.
In 1996, the mounting losses had the Centre declare the CCI with its 10 cement factories as sick and referred it to Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).
The BIFR had presented three revival packages between 1996 and 2000, all of which included Adilabad unit for revival.
The cement factory was started in Adilabad as a measure of infusing development in the backward region. It started functioning with about 2,000 permanent and contract staff, supervisors, workers and labourers on its rolls while most of the 550 permanent employees opting for voluntary retirement scheme or voluntary separation scheme in due course.
