After Jayalalithaa push, brick gets cheaper

CHENNAI: Giving substantial relief to those involved in the construction business as well as the common people, quarry owners and brick manufacturers on Thursday agreed to reduce prices of blue metal and brick with immediate effect. The decision came following a request from Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa with whom quarry owners and brick manufacturers held separate discussions at the Secretariat. She pointed out that the cost of these materials should be brought down keeping in mind the interests of the people.Accordingly, the price of blue metal (40 mm, 20 mm, 12 mm and 6 mm) has been reduced by `700 per load while that of brick fell by `3,000 per load. At present, the price of blue metal ranges from `4,800 to `5,800 per load depending upon size while that of brick is `20,000 per load.Last month, brick prices stood at `19,000 per load. It went up by `1,000 just a week ago.While brick manufacturers sought some relief, such as collecting fees for running brick kilns once in three years, quarry owners requested the CM to give up the tripsheet method adopted in quarries.Observing that during the previous AIADMK regime between 2001-2006, yearly fees were collected for running brick kilns to ensure sufficient supply to the people, the brick manufacturers requested the CM to collect the fees once in three years.Along with requesting the CM to give up the tripsheet method for fixing the fees, quarry owners suggested that yearly lease amount be collected based on the extent of area where quarrying is done.This would help the government mop up more revenue and make the business trouble-free, they reasoned.Besides, they asked the CM to allow the district associations of quarry and lorry owners to get explosive materials directly from the State-owned Explosives Limited instead of receiving them through agents.Federation of Tamil Nadu Brick Manufacturers Association president K Rathinasekar and other officebearers of the federation, Tamil Nadu Stone Quarry Crushers and Lorry Owners Association president K Chinnasamy and other office- bearers were present during the discussions. Industries Minister S P Velumani and Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi took part in the discussions.