Vijayawada: Realtors stage protest against escalating steel, cement prices
Builders JAC members staging protest in Vijayawada on Friday
Vijayawada: The joint action committee(JAC) of various builders and realtors association staged a protest here on Friday demanding constitution of a price regulatory authority to regulate the prices of steel and cement and other construction material which are being raised by the syndicates from time to time.
Leaders of Builders Association of India (BAI), Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) and State of Andhra Pradesh Building Contractors Association (SABCA) took part in the demonstration and decried the price escalation by 40 per cent in the last six months by the cement and steel manufacturers.
They raised slogans demanding reduction of prices of all the building material and to save the construction industry and protect the construction workers.
BAI State chairman D Pankaj Reddy said that the construction industry which had been facing hard times received a death blow due to the pandemic. "It is grossly unjust to increase the prices of steel and cement in this backdrop," he said. Stating that the dream of own house for the common man has become a distant dream, he appealed to the State and the Central government to intervene and come to the rescue of the construction industry.
CREDAI Vijayawada chapter chairman VR Swamy said that the construction industry occupies the second place to provide employment to large number of people after agriculture in the country. Now it is facing threat of extinction, he said. He expressed concern over losing livelihood of several crores of construction workers throughout the country.
BAI leader Attaluru Nagamalleswara Rao, SABCA leader Siva Kumar, NAREDCO leader GSS Prasad, other leaders Tummala Vamsikrishna, Vallabhaneni Venkateswara Rao, B Raghava Rao, NSN Srinivasa Reddy, Dasari Rambabu, Y Ramana Rao, Bachhu Amarnath, Durga Prasad, MRD Prasad, CITU leader Venkateswara Rao, Bojalla Nageswara Rao, and others participated in the protest.