Shillong, Sep 12: There are no plans on the state government’s part to try and revive the shuttered Mawmluh Cherra Cements Ltd, Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar, who also holds the Industries portfolio, said in the Assembly today.
He was replying to a question from opposition MLA for Nongkrem Ardent M Basaiawmoit, who had queried whether the government will set up a revival task force involving financial experts, engineers and economists to propose restructuring of the plant since the idea of privatisation is not working out.
Dhar responded that the failed state-owned cement company has been non-functional for several years now and that efforts to find a partner for a joint venture to revive it were unfruitful. Instead, the government decided to dissolve the company entirely, with employees receiving a financial settlement. Now, the government is studying plans on what to do with the site, located in the Sohra area, including using it as a tourism spot.
The company had been incorporated in the 1950s as Assam Cement before Meghalaya was even born and continued as a publicly-owned firm when this state was formed in 1972. It was set up using the local limestone to produce cement but over the decades many private firms have started doing the same thing and while they turn profits, MCCL’s losses mounted ever higher.
Dhar informed the House that the government in July 2022 decided to explore the joint venture option to return the factory to activity after it had stopped production in 2020. He said that three companies took part in the process – one was disqualified, another opted out and the one that did qualify eventually pulled out.
“Finally the government decided to close it and offered a one-time final closure scheme to the employees of the MCCL to ensure the fair compensation to the employees to mitigate their hardship caused to them due to the closure,” he said.
Employees were owed Rs 83.71 crore, suppliers and contractors Rs 7.73 crore and ex-employees Rs 6.81 crore for a total of around Rs 98 crore.
Only the third installment of the MCCL employees, amounting to Rs 27.36 crore, is still pending and will be cleared by 2026-27, the Deputy CM said.
Mawkyrwat MLA Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar, from the government benches, asked about tourism potential.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma replied to this, saying that a meeting was held with the Hima of Sohra on August 12 where the latter indicated that it was keen to have an understanding with the government on how to take forward tourism projects.
