Mudassir Ahmad
SRINAGAR: Having been set up three-decades-ago of producing quality cements at the reasonable prices and generating revenue for the state, the JK Cements Limited (JKCL) is fighting for its survival. Over the years, its production has declined due to lack of proper management, and scams worth crores of rupees have had hit it.
If one have a cursory look into the wrong doings which took place at the JKCL for the last few years. It has now reached at the verge of closure with authorities having “facilitated” scams instead taking measures of reviving it.
The JK Cements has two plants with individual capacity of around 600 tonnes per day which has declined to 70 percent now. The successive elected governments had blamed each other for downfall in its production and both the NC-Congress and PDP-BJP government termed it a “victim of politics”.
The ministers of both the governments had been claiming that JK Cements machinery had become obsolete and was the main reason for its decline in production. But sources said the production of JK Cements had gone up when engineers from other states run its affairs. They said the outside' engineers had visited many times for the past few years to its cement plant and during that time there had been abrupt increase in production.
Being a state owned company, it has a pivotal role to produce cement of well standard quality at the reasonable rates. “Unlike other cement plants operating in the Valley, it has lost its market value due to production of lower quality cement as authorities have been purchasing sub-standard material for its production,” insiders said.
In earlier 2015, the company witnessed a losses worth Rs 20 crores when the officials left piles of clinker (semi-fencing cement) under open sky without covering it with a plastic sheet that latter got deteriorated by rain. Although government sought the report from its officials for their “mis-management” that resulting a heavy loss to the company but no one has been held responsible.
There were also reports that government had decided to shut this cement plant. But the employees had resisted the move as around 10000 employees are dependent on it.
In December 2015, an effort to commit fraud worth nearly a crore of rupees came to fore in the company when someone attempted siphoning bank guarantee money under forged signatures.
A draft carrying forged signatures of Financial Advisor JKCL was submitted to one of the branches of Bank of India New Delhi for release of bank guarantee amount to the New Delhi-based company M/s Ashoka Gear.
Before releasing the amount, the Bank asked the JK Cements' Financial Advisor on phone whether the official had issued any such draft of Rs 86 lakhs in favour of the Delhi company. “The Financial Advisor expressed her ignorance about any such draft and told the Bank Manager to stop the payment immediately,” sources said.
Sources said the Financial Advisor later brought the fraud into the notice of higher authorities, following which an internal committee was formed to probe it. The case has been referred to Crime Branch.
A massive scam reportedly has surfaced in the JKCL wherein the management has ordered purchase of coal worth over Rs 12 Crore in sheer violation of norms and procedures.
The state owned company is also facing financial crisis due to frauds committed by its officials over the years. Now the liabilities have mounted to around Rs 100 crores and employees are without salaries for months.
“Of the 100 crores liabilities, the JKCL has pending loans from banks Rs 40 crores, Rs 10 crores of employees' salaries, Rs 15 crores contractors pending bills and other liabilities which are increasing with each passing month,” the official said.
