Govt assures Rs 80 crore to bring MCCL ‘out of coma’

SHILLONG: Meghalaya government will shell out a whopping amount of Rs 80 crore as financial assistance to the Mawmluh Cherra Cement Limited (MCCL) which is reeling under acute financial crunch.
Speaking to media persons here on Friday after meeting MCCL employees, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma admitted that MCCL was bleeding.
He said the Industries department has worked out a proposal and accordingly he has directed the Finance department to provide the assistance of Rs 80 crore to MCCL to bail out the government owned company from the financial crunch.
Sangma, however, made it clear that the support of Rs 80 crore was being provided with a rider that the proposal of Voluntary Retirement Scheme for the employees would be executed.
He said that the fund provided by the government would be utilized in payment of pending salaries, unpaid power dues and various cess besides settling the one time principal and interest of the bank loan which MCCL had taken earlier.
The chief minister also seemed unhappy over the fact that MCCL did not take any steps to clear the loan      on time which would have saved at least Rs 6 crore of interest.
According to the chief minister, the MCCL modernization project started in 2005 and it should have been completed in two years’ time but unfortunately it did not happen.
He mentioned that during his meeting with MCCL staff, he asked them to show the highest level of commitment to turn things around for the ailing company.
Earlier, MCCL employees, while talking to reporters, said that over 400 employees of the plant have not received their salaries since September 2014. They also added that an amount of Rs 1.30 crore is spent each month on the salaries.