Stop Cement Cartelisation: Minister of State -Road Transport & Highways

Taking cement companies head on, Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways VK Singh blamed cartelisation by the industry for high prices of cement that has led to higher cost of road construction. The minister said that the road sector could buy out bulk of the cement should its prices be lowered. "Cement industry is not looking at it from the point of view of constant profits. They are looking at a typical Indian mentality -- make your profits once for all. They don't want to bring down the price," Singh said. "If they bring down their price, road infrastructure is going to buy out most of the cement from them at a price at which we want. But they have gone into cartelisation, which is not good," the Minister added. While warning cement firms against cartelisation, VK Singh urged highway developers to find other innovative ways to reduce cost of construction. Road builders have often complained of high cement prices and accused manufacturers of indulging into cartelisation. A private highway contractor said that in states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra there were issues related to supply of cement due to localised lockdown but situation is now getting better.