By HH Mohrmen
Dalmia (Bharat) Ltd which is one of the largest cement manufacturers in the country is now entering North East with a bang. The company which is part of the Dalmia group has entered Northeast in general and Meghalaya in particular through the backdoor. Dalmia has entered northeast by acquiring two cement manufacturing units in the region, Calcom Cement Ltd and Adhunik Cement in Thangskai, East Jaintia Hills. The company has also entered the region in style by getting northeast’s own favourite daughter – Mary Kom to endorse the company’s brand and sign her up as the company’s national brand ambassador. Some days before the company launched its brand it also generously made a splash with full page colour advertisement in almost all the dailies in the region to announce its arrival. Advertisements continue to rain down like the proverbial manna from heaven.
If I was a slogan writer for the company’s advertisement unit, and was assigned the job of coining a slogan to coincide with the company’s landmark touchdown in the region, the slogan would be, ‘North East here I come’. But the question is: Is this landmark arrival free of controversy?
In Meghalaya, the company has acquired Adhunik Cement which is located in Thangskai village of Elaka Narpuh for 1,085 crores, which includes a 25 MW captive power plant. Adhunik which has a production capacity of 1.5 million metric tons per annum was sold to Dalmia last year and the deal was inked in Delhi on the 28 of September 2012. Adhunik is one of the 6 cement companies in Jaintia hills which have gone into production. The others are Topcem, Star Cement, JUD, Hills Cement and Jaintia Cements Ltd. The other companies which are under construction are Amrit Cement and Gold Stone Cement, while Neelanchal Cement, of which the recent public hearing was marred with controversy is awaiting clearance from the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board.
Adhunik Cement was registered under Adhunik MSP Cement Ltd and land for setting up the plant and mining areas was transferred from tribal owners through single window agency to the mentioned name. The question is how can the Adhunik Cement transfer land which was registered in the company’s name to another company which is a non tribal entity. As per Meghalaya Land Transfer Act can a non tribal entity acquire tribal land? Is this not a clear case of violation of Meghalaya Land Transfer Act? After the deal was signed between the two business houses in Delhi and since as per the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution; District Councils are bestowed with the power to manage and control land in the tribal areas, this writer went to meet Lamdibok Sumer the Chief Executive Member of the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council to seek confirmation if the Council has allowed Adhunik Cement to transfer its land and property to Dalmia Cement? To me and my colleague’s surprise the CEM said that he was not informed about it. When we showed him newspaper clippings of the deal which was reported in the business section of many national dailies, the CEM was obviously at a loss and did not know what to do next. Till the last Thursday when the cement companies had launched its brand and its brand name was seen not only in the entire market but Mary Kom stared at him from the news paper which lies on his table in his chamber, the CEM still does have any answer to our four month old query. So much about our “so called” custodian of land, forest, traditions and cultures!
During the same period time after the deal was struck the Daloi of elaka Narpuh (who went an extra mile to issue Adhunik cement the NOC it needed to submit to the single window agency before it open shop in the area) was asked if he knew that Adhunik was sold to Dalmia. The daloi’s response was in the negative. When a reporter friend asked him if it wasn’t mandatory that even a tribal would need the daloi’s recommendation to transfer land from one firm to another, his answer was in affirmative. Then he was again asked how a non tribal entity could transfer assets from one company to another without the daloi’s recommendation, the daloi had no answer. Now what can the CEM or daloi do? The Adhunik-Dalmia deals is an example of the impending threat that awaits the state and its people, if the District Council or the state government does not act, then corporations will rule the roost and the people will be at the mercy of the corporate houses. Corporations and corporate honchos will fly over people’s head and strike deals in Guwahati or Delhi and the locals will have nothing else to say.
The government was quick to constitute the Single Window Agency to encourage industrial development in the state, but does the government have a policy to monitor and control these industries?
The product of Dalmia Cement was recently launched in Guwahati. Why Guwahati? Why not in Shillong or Jowai or even Khliehriat? Why despite the state having maximum number of cement plants in the region, almost all cement companies give Shillong or any town in Meghalaya a miss? The reason is because all cement companies in Meghalaya have their corporate offices set up either in Guwahati or Kolkata. None of the companies choose Shillong, Jowai or Khliehriat to set up their corporate offices. By doing so they deny local educated, unemployed youth the employment opportunities they promise. The state government it seems is yet to formulate a policy to ensure that cement companies adhere to environmental norms and more importantly create employment avenues for the local youth. If the cement companies are here only to exploit our natural resources and destroy our environment and do not plough back to the region and its people what they do by way of destroying their environment, the companies do not have the right to continue to operate in the state.
The NGOs and pressure groups in the state should stand united and pressure the government to formulate a policy and insist that all companies should set up their corporate offices in Meghalaya. If the companies are not even willing to set up their corporate offices in Meghalaya and create jobs in the state, then is this not a case of companies dishonouring their corporate social responsibility?
The Adhunik-Dalmia deal also raises serious doubts about the arrangement that local bodies including the dorbar shnong Lumchnong had with the company. Adhunik cement was constructed uphill the water source of Lumchnong village and the water source was ultimately abandoned. An agreement was signed between the dorbar shnong and the NGO that the company is responsible for ensuring that water supply to the village is not disturbed. The question is, will Dalmia honour this agreement?
Is the government of Meghalaya even aware of its strength as a major cement producing state in the region if not in the country? With 7 cement companies already in production (that include Mawmluh Cherra Cement Company), two under construction and still a few in the pipeline, one wonders if the government or the Trade and Industries Department even knows what the cement production capacity of the state is now. Like a sleeping giant Meghalaya is yet to wake up and be told that it is a cement producing giant. Adhunik/Dalmia production capacity is 1.5 Million Metric Tonnes per annum. Even if the other 6 plants produce only 500 MMTPA, the approximate cement produced from the state is not less than 5 MMTPA. Star and Topcem are in the process of increasing their production capacity to 1.5 MMTPA, and when this happen, cement production from the state will increase by three fold.
In the near future Meghalaya will be able to produce more than 10 million metric ton per annum. Like Adhunik some existing company will also be put on sale to the highest bidder, and then even multinational cement companies will be able to enter Meghalaya through the backdoor by buying stakes in the companies or even arranging funds for a complete takeover of the company like in the Adhunik case. Does the government have any mechanism to control this? Isn’t it time for the government to consider ways and means to sustainably manage our natural resources and stop permitting any new company from opening shop in the state? Isn’t it enough? How many more cement plants do we want in the state? Or do we even have a plan for that?