SHILLONG, Feb 12: Unable to revive the Mawmluh Cherra Cements Limited (MCCL), even after making investments worth crores of rupees for plant modernisation, the Meghalaya government has finally decided to operate the company on a joint venture with private agencies and companies.
Sources informed that the proposal was presently lying with the commerce and industries department, and that after necessary vetting it would be placed before the Cabinet for approval.
Though nothing has been decided on the scale of disinvestment, the sources said that the policy matter decision has to be taken by the state government itself.
The sources further informed that the interest of the employees would be taken care of, adding that the government considers only the joint venture as the last revival plan for MCCL, which has been in a sorry state for many years.
According to the sources, there is no harm in going for the joint venture as top firms in the country, be it in the field of aviation or petroleum, have done the same.
Admitting that the financial position of MCCL is in disarray, sources said that MeECL, around a week back, disconnected power supply to the plant since the firm could not clear the dues running into crores of rupees.
It is learnt that the MCCL plant was working well till the lockdown last year. However, since the lockdown, the firm apparently went bankrupt. In addition, the MCCL also has heavy dues to be cleared to the coal suppliers, and amidst the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) ban on coal, it became difficult for the plant to operate, the sources informed.
It may be mentioned that the state government has, in the past few years, made heavy investments towards modernisation of the MCCL plant. However, the firm continues to remain a loss-making enterprise.
Earlier, the executive committee of Mawmluh dorbar had suggested that the state government should continue to operate the company while ruling out the public-private-partnership (PPP) model.
The KSU too is peeved at the government’s move to opt for a joint venture to revive MCCL.
Set up in the early 1960s, the MCCL is the oldest public sector undertaking (PSU) in the state and the only state-owned cement plant in Meghalaya.
