Traders have accused the Lafarge Holcim Bangladesh Limited (LHBL) of selling aggregated Nongtrai limestone at lower rates in Bangladesh and wrecked livelihoods of border residents along Shella and adjoining villages as well as trade partners in the neighbouring country.
Limestone exporters in Meghalaya and importers in Bangladesh said that this has hit small traditional exporters and importers below the belt as these long-established traders and ancillary industries are nowhere in the same league as Lafarge, which is backed by global biggies such as Holcim group of Switzerland, Lafarge Group of France, world leader in building materials, Cementos Molins of Spain, leading Bangladeshi business houses together with International Finance Corporation (IFC – The World Bank Group), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), German Development Bank (DEG), European Investment Bank (EIB), and the Netherlands Development Company (FMO).
It’s a case of “a giant stamping on ants” a trader said. Exporters said that the limestone from Nongtrai carried through the 17 km conveyor belt is legally to be used only for manufacturing cement in their own plant in Chatak and not for sale in the open market.
The global cement major has permission to mine 5 million tons a year from the previous 2 million tons a year in Nongtrai for manufacturing cement in Chatak.
According to the traders they are planning a joint agitation soon to highlight the issue. “Only a joint agitation on both sides of the border will get government attention on both sides of the border, they said.
In fact, the Bangladesh government has no agreement with India that allows market sale of Nongtrai limestone aggregate by Lafarge, they stated. They said that because of this it has thrown the traditional exporters from Meghalaya and the importers from across the border into a tailspin as the limestone market has been undercut.
A Bangladesh importer said that Lafarge is selling aggregated limestone believed to be sourced from Nongtrai mines at the rate of anything below Rs.2000 per ton whereas the rates through the normal trade routes is Rs.3500.
While the traditional limestone route is as boatloads across the river which divides the two countries, Lafarge has its limestone delivered to it inside its Chatak cement plant from its mines in Nongtrai the traders alleged that this was unfair and a dishonest business practice.
Reports said that Bangladesh Supreme Court has so far permitted Lafarge to sell as they defined, “Aggregate as a broad category of coarse particulate material used in construction, including sand, gravel, crushed stone, slag, recycled concrete and geo-synthetic aggregate.” But, this is only till the government formulates a policy on the matter.
The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government in Meghalaya and the central government have not come out with any solution despite the project in controversy being a bilateral one, founded on an Indo-Bangladesh agreement, the traders said.
Sources said that the Bangladesh based importers of Khasi Hills limestone such as the collective called the Baboshai-Sramik Oikya Parishad in a letter to the industries ministry had said that the company brought limestone from India through cross-border conveyor belts as raw materials for cement manufacturing. The body alleged that the company crushed the limestone, brought as raw materials of cement, and sold the aggregate products on the open market.
Limestone mining and export from the East Khasi Hills to Bangladesh is a thriving trade that has been going on for over centuries under different regimes. It has faced tumultuous times across the centuries. But according to locals, “never have people been so completely removed from this business with this complete corporate takeover of our source of livelihood by this foreign company.”
They told Highland Post that the Government of India’s permission given decades ago when the project was being planned “was for setting up the limestone mine in Nongtrai with the express purpose of using that limestone to make cement in the factory in Chatak, not meant for selling in the open market.”
The mining in Nongtrai is being done by the Lafarge Umiam Mining Private Limited (LUMPL), a subsidiary company of Lafarge.
