Over two-month deadlock between truckers, Adani Group ends in Himachal

Shimla, Feb 20

The over two-month deadlock between the transporters and the Adani Group, which owned two major cement plants in Himachal Pradesh, ended on Monday with both agreeing on the freight rate.

With the intervention of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, both the cement company management and the truck operators have settled upon the new freight rates of Rs 10.30 per km per quintal for single axle and Rs 9.30 per km per quintal for multi-axle.

The management gave its consent to resume cement production from Tuesday and the truck operators agreed to transport the cement at the decided rates.

Amidst the stalemate, another cement giant Ultratech, which owns a plant in the vicinity of Adani Group's both plants, hiked the freight charges from Rs 10.58 to Rs 10.71 per tonne per km.

Talking to the media, the Chief Minister said due to the coordinated efforts of all, an acceptable solution to the issue has been made possible. He said the dispute came to the fore only after five days of the state government assuming power and the cement factory management announced to stop the production.

Truck operators went on strike on December 16, 2022. Thereafter, the government continued holding talks with truck operators and the factory management.

After the change of ownership of the cement factories located at Darlaghat and Barmana, the management refused to provide freight at the old rates.

Both the parties suffered the loss due to the deadlock, said the Chief Minister, adding despite economic loss to the state the truck operators, drivers and those directly or indirectly involved in the transportation business incurred a huge loss.