Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Himachal Pradesh: Thousands devastated as India Adani plants shutdown

Himachal Pradesh: Thousands devastated as India Adani plants shutdown

Himachal Pradesh: Thousands devastated as India Adani plants shutdown

Himachal Pradesh: Thousands devastated as India Adani plants shutdown

Advertisement
  • The Adani group intends to lower this price to six rupees.
  • Ms. Sharma has relied only on the plant for her means of subsistence.
  • The family obtained its small plot of property when the facility was constructed.
Advertisement

“I’m not sure what we did wrong. Why are we getting this treatment now? “asks Kanta Sharma, referring to a closed cement plant in the Himachal Pradesh state of northern India.

It is one of two factories in Darlaghat that were shut down in December by its owner, the Adani Group, leaving thousands of residents without employment. The other plant is situated around 48 kilometres (30 miles) away.

Since her husband’s passing in 2009, Ms. Sharma has relied only on the plant for her means of subsistence. To buy a truck to deliver cement and raw materials to and from the plant, she took out a loan and depleted her resources. The family obtained its small plot of property when the facility was constructed.

The third richest man in the world and billionaire Gautam Adani’s Adani Group purchased the factories in September, but immediately found itself embroiled in a freight costs battle with local transport unions. The business said that due to the losses it was suffering as a result of “excessive shipping expenses,” operations had become “unviable.”

In addition to the 2,000–3,000 individuals directly employed by these plants, many of others have been impacted by the standoff.

According to RD Nazeem, the state’s industries and transport secretary, “around 10,000 to 15,000 people are indirectly dependent on these plants, including truck operators, drivers, cleaners, [workers at] roadside cafes and vehicle repair shops”.

Advertisement

“These are folks who lost their homes and their land because they donated them to these factories.”

Locals dominate the transport industry in the region; many of them gave up their productive farmland when the plants were built in the 1990s.

The Adani group intends to lower this price to six rupees from the current close to 11 rupees (13 cents; 11 pence) per tonne of cement per kilometre. Due to the rising cost of fuel, transporters claim that the freight charges are reasonable.

According to The Adani Group, if carriers provide the required cooperation, it wishes to “continue its operations in both places.” The fact that “local transport unions prevent other transporters from operating at competitive prices” is “unfortunate,” it was further said.

According to the statement, “the firm should be able to employ trucks wherever they are needed to ease transportation, ensuring a free market approach to best serve our consumers.”

However, locals contend that since they gave up their “fertile land” for the plants, they should have priority in operating the trucks for those plants.

Advertisement

Mahesh Kumar, a local, claims that “people living in these areas spent their meagre money into buying vehicles so they could transport goods from this business.” Their future is uncertain with the factory closed.

In the early 1990s, land was purchased to build the cement mills in Darlaghat.

According to Paras Thakur, a local, “cultivable land was obtained for 62,000 rupees per bigha (a local unit of measurement equaling around 0.2 acres) whereas non-cultivable property was acquired for 19,000 rupees.”

The residents at the time thought that the industries would give their kids jobs so they wouldn’t have to move far in search of work.

Since 1992, Mr. Thakur claims that despite more than 1,400 acres of land being taken from five villages, just 72 families’ members have found employment in the facilities.

According to the Adani Group, 143 workers from the two factories are being transferred to the company’s other sites in order to preserve their jobs.

Advertisement

“We used to grow all kinds of crops. We used to grow corn, wheat and all kinds of pulses. Today, we regret having given this land for the cement plant,” says Prem Lal Thakur, a local resident.

Advertisement

The state government says it is working on a solution to fix freight rates that are beneficial to the people.

Advertisement

But residents don’t feel hopeful.

“First, we lost our lands. Then, the promises of employment were not kept. And when we tried earning through transportation, the plants have been shut down over freight rates. Can it get any worse? says Ms Sharma.

Advertisement

This is a question other locals are asking.

Also Read

Adani Group will purchase a 49 percent stake in Quintillion Business Media for an undisclosed sum
Adani Group will purchase a 49 percent stake in Quintillion Business Media for an undisclosed sum

Billionaire Gautam Adani's AMG Media Networks, a unit of Adani Enterprises, will...

Advertisement

 

Advertisement
Advertisement
Read More News On

Catch all the India News, World News, Breaking News Event and Latest News Updates on The BOL News


Download The BOL News App to get the Daily News Update & Follow us on Google News.


End of Article

Next Story