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An inter-village dispute in South Kashmir’s Khrew area has badly impacted Kashmir’s cement market, with many factories in the area lying idle for last over one month for want of government intervention. 

The five cement factories in the area cater to bulk of the cement market in Kashmir. The closure of these units has resulted in sharp decrease in the supply as a result of which prices have shot up by Rs 30 to 40 per bag.

As per cement factory owners for last one and a half months the inter-village tussle in Khrew over the issue of truckers’ union has become a serious cause of concern for them.

They said the failure of district authorities to take action against the villagers responsible for this mess has resulted in stopping supplies to the market as the production has reduced to zero.

On an average, the factories in the area supply 250 to 300 truckloads of cement to the market per day.  “For last one and a half months our factories are shut due to the blockade of road by these villagers due to their internal strife,” they said.    

“We are incurring huge losses because of this tussle between the villagers over the truckers’ union. Otherwise it is the peak time of business for us as there is huge demand in view of the upcoming construction season,” a private cement factory owner said.

 “Our losses run in to several crores due to the slack approach of administration as we have to pay idle wages,” the factory owners said, adding that the government on the one hand is boasting about ease of doing business but on the other hand they have failed to act against handful of villagers who have in a way held hostage the factories for their personal reasons.

A factory owner said if the supply is not restored the prices per bag of cement may shoot up to Rs 450 in the coming days.

The last week cement retailers also held protest demonstrations at Srinagar Press Enclave seeking intervention of divisional administration for restoring supply of cement to the market.

However, an employee of a cement factory, wishing not to be named, said the workers in the cement factories were actually facing the main brunt of this situation. “The workers have not received salary for last one month as the employers are withholding the salary on the pretext of non-working of the factories,” he said, adding that the employers will recover their losses by simply increasing the prices of the cement “but the poor employees and workers will suffer.”

The employee said the present situation become a huge law and order problem if the authorities did not intervene immediately. “We fail to understand why the police are not acting against the villagers who are halting the work at the factories. A single contingent of police can help ease the situation,” he said.

While talking to Greater Kashmir, a senior police official said that they would resolve the issue in a day or two. “There was a court direction, but now we have been asked by the administration to resolve this issue and ensure that the road leading to the cement factories is not blocked by anybody,” he said.  

Source: greaterkashmir