On Monday (February 20), two Adani Group-owned cement plants that had shut shop since December last year resumed their operations in Himachal Pradesh, following the intervention of Congress CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
In a tweet, the Chief Minister’s Office informed, “Our Govt is committed to working for the greatest common good of the society. In the 3rd meeting held with Truck Operators today, we have been successful in resolving the issues & ending the 67-day long dispute.”
The development comes despite Rahul Gandhi hurling abuses, spreading falsehoods and accusing the Adani Group of crony capitalism. As such, it comes as no wonder why the Congress scion has remained silent about the party pacifying its relations with Gautam Adani.
Our Govt is committed to work for the greatest common good of the society. In the 3rd meeting held with Truck Operators today, we have been successful in resolving the issues & ending the 67-day long dispute. #SukhvinderSinghSukhu#SukhKiSarkar#HimachalGovernment
— CMO HIMACHAL (@CMOFFICEHP) February 20, 2023
The Background of the Controversy
On Monday (February 20), the 67-day standoff in Himachal Pradesh between Adani Group-owned cement plants and truck unions ended after the two sides agreed on new freight rates.
The Adani-owned cement plants in Barmana and Darlaghat of Himachal Pradesh had been closed since December 15 as the truckers protested against Adani Cement lowering the transportation rates to ₹6 per tonne per km (PTPK).
Reportedly, the market rate is ₹10.58 PTPK in Dalarghat and ₹11.41 PTPK in Barmana. Both the cement companies and the truck operators have now settled upon ₹10.3 PTPK for single-axle trucks and ₹9.3 PTPK for multi-axle vehicles.
The stalemate ended following a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, with both sides deciding to resume operations on Tuesday (February 21).
The government had earlier said that it was incurring a daily loss of over ₹1 crore in taxes due to the closure of the plants. The Adani Group completed the $6.5 billion acquisition of Ambuja Cements and ACC in September 2022.
Days after Congress came to power, the plants closed down over the freight dispute. The reopening of the Barmana and Darlaghat plants is expected to help in the economic, social, and overall development of the state.
Rahul Gandhi and his doublespeak on the Adani Group
In September 2022, Rahul Gandhi insulted a female journalist from NDTV because the controversial media house was acquired by the Adani group.He repeatedly told the female journalist that she has a ‘new owner’ before eventually moving on to not answering her original question.
The Congress party had also helped ‘mainstream’ the disinformation that the Adani group, which manages the operations of the Mundra port, was somehow responsible for 3000 kg of heroin found in a shipment from Afghanistan in September 2021. In reality, the contraband was caught by government authorities after due cooperation by port officials in a joint operation.
The Adani group was forced to issue a media statement in a bid to nullify the unsubstantiated claims of the grand-old party. In June 2022, Rahul Gandhi amplified fake news published by the Leftist propaganda outlet, The Wire, which suggested that PM Modi influenced a deal in Sri Lanka at the behest of the Adani group.
Even though the Sri Lankan president rejected any such collusion or favour for any specific company, Rahul Gandhi seemed upset that an Indian company won a bid for a project in Sri Lanka.
Again in April 2022, the Congress IT cell Head Saral Patel tweeted fake news about ‘Adani Apples’ and alleged that they were dominating the market over the produce of local farmers. On being called out on social media, he quietly deleted his tweet without citing any apology or word of regret.
In March 2021, Rahul Gandhi accused PM Modi of helping his ‘two friends’ Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani. When reports emerged that Gautam Adani gained the highest amount of wealth in 2021, it was a perfect moment for Rahul Gandhi to use the news to attack industrialists.
Interestingly, the Congress scion, who had been accusing the Modi government of being hands-in-gloves with the industrialists of the country, has never explained why the Congress-ruled Rajasthan government announced ₹65000 crores worth of investment from the Adani group in Rajasthan.
