Engineers, contractors protest against exorbitant increase in price of M-sand, gravel, cement

Madurai engineers protest unreasonable price hikes in construction materials, threatening indefinite strike if prices not revised.

Members of Madurai District All Civil Engineers and Contractors Federation staged a demonstration here on Tuesday protesting against the “unreasonable and exorbitant” increase in price of gravel and M-sand across the State.

The protest, coordinated by Association of Madurai Civil Engineers (AMCE), was attended by members of CREDAI, Builders Association of Indi and Civil Engineers Associations of Usilampatti and Tirumangalam.

AMCE president Pon. Ravichandran said that the price of one truck load of M-sand (three units) had been increased twice in the last four months.

“It has gone from ₹15,000 to ₹22,000 now even when there was no increase in any of the input cost for the quarry and crusher operators,” he complained.

He accused that the quarry and crusher operators had formed a syndicate and unilaterally increased the price of these essential raw materials used in the construction industry.

Meanwhile, the price of cement bag too has been increased from ₹280 to ₹350 in the last one week without any proper reason.

“Before taking up any construction work, the engineers sign an agreement on the cost of the project based on the cost of the construction materials. It changes only once in a year,” he said.