Displaying items by tag: Jammu and Kashmir Cements

India: Local press has reported that a 'leading Indian conglomerate' may have concluded a deal to enter the cement industry in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The Kashmir Monitor newspaper has reported the value of the deal as US$30.4m.

At present, the Jammu and Kashmiri cement sector is comprised of state-owned J&K Cements and five private companies. J&K Cements previously ceased production at its 400,000t/yr Khrew cement plant in Pulwama amid 'financial difficulties.' It has since sought a buyer for its business.

India: 13 employees of Jammu and Kashmir Cements Limited (J&K Cements) have been suspended following an incident in which J&K Cements managing director Ishtiyaq Drabu was locked inside the 0.4Mt/yr J&K Cements Khrew plant, where he says he was ‘held hostage and threatened.’ In a charge sheet against the employees, he further alleged that they had ‘left their place of duty unauthorised’ in order to assemble at the main gate, where the trap was sprung. The Daily Excelsior newspaper has reported that the action was taken by the employees in order to demand payment of their salaries. “The intervention of the police saved my life,” said Drabu.

550 J&K Cements employees have not received wages since December 2018 and US$3.91m is missing from the state-owned producer’s pension fund. Drabu has been able to draw his salary every month since his appointment in January 2019.

India: The State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) has recommended that Jammu & Kashmir Cements’ plant at Khrew, Pampore for causing ‘major pollution.’ However, the state government has given the state-owned cement producer time to stay open while it installs dust control upgrades, according to the Kashmir Monitor newspaper. The company employs around 1000 workers and the government is concerned about the disruption that shutting the plant would cause.

India: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has criticised the management of Jammu and Kashmir Cements for allowing a contractor to abandon a contract to upgrade a cement plant without incurring a financial penalty. The subsequent reduction in production between 2010 and 2014 led the plant to loose an estimated US$5.6m, according to a report seen by the Early Times newspaper.

Engineering contactor Promac Engineering Industries was originally awarded a US$10.5m contact to upgrade the plant in 2005. Work started in June 2006 but the contractor left the site in 2010. The original terms of the agreement required Promac to complete the upgrade within 26 months and pay a financial penalty if the plant’s production capacity fell, if any increase in power or fuel consumption occurred or if the contract was delayed. Additionally, a packing plant that was built as part of the contract remained unused until 2015.

India: The state government of Jammu and Kashmir has required that all of its departments in Jammu Valley should buy cement from Jammu and Kashmir Cements as a first preference. Government order 89-IND of 2016 enforces the order according to the Early Times. Under the directive all relevant departments are only able to purchase cement from the open market where Jammu and Kashmir Cements is unable to supply the order and a non-availability certificate is obtained.