Vijay C Roy
Chandigarh, August 22
The significant increase in raw material prices in the last eight months is leading to existential crisis for several Punjab-based hot-mix pant owners engaged in construction of government roads, bridges and buildings. According to owners, after the Russia-Ukraine war, the already volatile raw material prices have shot up severely, particularly those of bitumen, steel, light diesel oil (LDO), cement and gravel.
According to Punjab Hot-Mix Plant Owners Association (HMPOA) president Balwinder Singh Siddhwa, prices of steel, LDO oil, diesel, cement, gravel, stone and other road construction material have increased anywhere between 35-150 per cent due to the Ukraine war and rising inflation.
Ramesh Chopra, managing director, Jagson Infra said: “There is an increase of 75 per cent in the rates of bitumen, 52 per cent in the rates of steel, LDO price has doubled and gravel prices has increased by over 150 per cent.”
The association members said when the work was allotted to them, the rates were reasonable and profitable as well but now it is beyond one’s control to carry on with the existing rates on Common Schedule Rates (CSR).
“On one hand, the raw material prices have risen like anything in the last eight months, especially after Russia-Ukraine war, the increase in rates was much faster. However, despite this, we are facing issues in the absence of revision of increase in the CSR, which was last time revised in 2012-13 by the government. Due to significant increase in prices, development projects in
the state have been put on hold by over 200 hot-mix plant owners in protest against the increasing rates of various raw materials,” said Balwinder.
The association demanded the speedy implementation of mining policy and under that the rates of materials used in new tenders should be fixed.
The owners also raised the issue of delay in their payments by the government. The contractors also requested the state government to clear the dues of various projects completed by them in the previous years, which is about Rs 700 crore at the earliest.
Meanwhile, the association has appealed to the state government in view of the increasing corruption. The delegation submitted a memorandum to the Finance Minister to strengthen his statewide corruption-free Punjab campaign and apprised the contractors in Patiala and Sangrur about the open bribery flourishing among the officials of the Punjab Mandi Board.
