Udaypur Cement Losing Rs 40 Crores During Lockdown
May 10, 2020 | Investopaper
District residents, workers and employees have demanded that Udaypur Cement Industry Limited, a cement producer, should be started soon after the lockdown. They demanded that the industry should be started immediately to prevent shortage of cement after the development work started smoothly after loosening of the lockdown.
General Manager (GM) Nawal Kishor Sah also said that production should start as soon as possible as the next two-and-a-half months is the season of high sales of cement. He pointed out the need to start operations immediately to prevent further losses to the industry which has been running at a loss for tens of millions of rupees. Sah said that the government should focus on creating an environment for immediate operation of the industry as it would make a profit by selling as much as it could produce in the peak season.
The industry, which has a daily production capacity of 800 metric tonnes, has incurred a business loss of about 400 million rupees during the lockdown period. According to GM Sah, the cement production industry has lost 26,400 tonnes of cement in 44 days due to the daily production of 600 tonnes. That amount is five lakh 28 thousand bags, the current price of which is multiplied by seven hundred and forty-one per bag comes to Rs 391.248 million. The lockdown has left 380 employees without a job and the industry has to bear an additional unproductive burden of Rs. 19.30 million
“The 44-day lockdown has resulted in a business loss of around Rs 400 million. Salary has to be paid to a large number of employees ” said GM Sah.
Deputy General Manager (DGM) of the industry, Dhruv Devkota, said that the industry was losing around Rs 10 million daily due to the lockdown. DGM Devkota said that the decision on whether or not to run the industry is made by the ministry as it is owned by the government. He said that the lockdown would not only stop production and cost employees but also cause another invisible loss due to rust from non-operation of machine tools.
He said that it was necessary to take initiative as soon as possible to resume cement production as the construction work season is increasing. The industry has also described the lockdown as a “golden opportunity to sell Gaida cement alone”. “Currently, the ban does not allow any cement to be imported,” said industry workers. “This is also a golden opportunity to sell Gaida cement.” Therefore, production should be increased by making arrangements to run the industry faster. ‘
Meanwhile, 6,000 bags of cement were sold last Tuesday. Spokesperson and Chief of Sales Department Ram Bahadur GC said that the construction of Madan Bhandari Lok Marg and Chaudandigarhi and Belka Municipalities and Rautamai Village Municipality has purchased cement for their local level projects.
GC said that the employees of the industry sold the cement to them when they came to buy cement in the lockdown. He said that for the first time in 43 days, cement worth Rs. 44.46 million was sold on Tuesday.
