Several workers are affected as Adani Plant shuts down

Key Takeaways:

• It is one of two plants in Darlaghat whose closure in December by its owner, the Adani Group, resulted in the loss of employment for thousands of locals.
• Locals dominate the transport sector in the area; when the plants were constructed in the 1990s, many gave up their productive farmland.

“I’m not sure what we did wrong. Why are we getting this treatment now? “says Kanta Sharma, pointing to a closed cement plant in the Himachal Pradesh state of northern India.

It is one of two plants in Darlaghat that were shut down in December by their owner, the Adani Group, leaving thousands of locals without employment. The other plant is situated about 48 kilometres (30 miles) away.

Since her husband’s passing in 2009, Ms Sharma has relied solely on the plant for her means of subsistence. She took out a loan to buy a truck to deliver cement and raw materials to and from the plant and depleted her savings. The family acquired its small plot of land when the plant was constructed.

The 3rd richest man in the world and billionaire Gautam Adani’s Adani Group purchased the factories in September. Still, he soon found himself embroiled in a freight charges dispute with local transport unions. 

The business claimed that due to the losses it suffered due to “high transportation costs,” operations had become “unviable.”

In addition to the 2,000–3,000 individuals directly employed by these plants, thousands of others have been impacted by the standoff.

According to RD Nazeem, the state’s industries and transport secretary, “about 10,000 to 15,000 people are indirectly reliant on these plants, including truck operators, drivers, cleaners, [workers at] roadside eateries as well as vehicle repair garages.”

“These people lost their homes and land because they donated them to these factories.”

Locals dominate the transport industry in the region; many gave up their productive farmland when the plants were built in the 1990s.

The Adani group wants to lower this price to six rupees from the current close to 11 rupees (13 cents; 11 pence) per tonne of cement per kilometre. Due to the rising fuel cost, transporters claim that the freight charges are reasonable.

According to The Adani Group, if transporters provide the necessary support, it wants to “continue its operations in both locations.” 

The fact that “local transport unions prevent other transporters from operating at competitive rates” is “unfortunate” was further stated.

According to the statement, “the firm should be free to engage trucks wherever they are needed to facilitate transportation, ensuring a free market approach to best serves our consumers.”

However, locals contend that since they gave up their “fertile land” for the plants, they should have priority in operating the trucks for those plants.

Mahesh Kumar, a local, claims that “people living in these areas invested their meagre savings into buying trucks so they could transport material from this plant.” Their future is uncertain with the plant closed.

In the early 1990s, the land was purchased to build cement plants in Darlaghat.

According to Paras Thakur, a local, “cultivable land was acquired for 62,000 rupees per bigha (a local unit of measurement equaling about 0.2 acres) while non-cultivable lands were acquired for 19,000 rupees.”

The locals at the time hoped that the factories would give their kids jobs so they wouldn’t have to move far in search of work.

Since 1992, Mr Thakur claims that despite more than 1,400 acres of land being taken from five villages, only 72 families’ members have found employment at the plants.

According to the Adani Group, 143 workers from the two plants are being transferred to the company’s other plants to preserve their jobs.

“We grew a variety of crops back then. We used to grow various types of pulses, wheat, and corn. We regret giving this land to the cement plant today, claims Prem Lal Thakur, a local.

According to the state government, a solution to fix freight rates advantageous to the public is being developed.

Residents, however, lack optimism.

“First, our lands were lost. Then, the employment guarantees fell through. The plants were shut down due to freight rates when we tried to make money through transportation. Can it possibly get worse? Ms Sharma says.

Other residents of the area are asking this question.