Dalmia Bharat suspends cement production to curb COVID-19

Leading cement manufacturer Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd on Thursday said it has suspended cement production across all its plants in the country to ensure social distancing and protect the workforce from being infected with the coronavirus. Dalmia Bharat operates across nine states and it has 12 manufacturing units with a combined annual capacity of 26.5 million tonnes, a company official said.

Dalmia Cement is acutely aware of the current grave situation due to the COVID-19 outbreak. In line with the continuous appeal for social distancing by the Prime Minister and chief ministers of states where we have our operations, we have decided to suspend production across all our plants, the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Dalmia Cement (Bharat), Mahendra Singhi, said. The plants will remain closed till further notice, he said.

During this hour of crisis, all employees and communities living around our plant locations will be provided with any support that they may need to handle the situation, he said. We are continuously monitoring the situation and the immediate task is to break the chain of transmission of COVID-19. We will decide to restart production once the lockdown is over and as per the directions of the state and central governments, he added.

With the plants have requisite permission from both the state and the central governments to operate with minimum employees during the lockdown, Dalmia Cement will only carry out mandatory activities required for safety and security of the plants in the larger interest of the employees, workers, their families, local community and above all the nation, a company statement said. Besides the crucial decision to suspend cement production, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) has taken a series of employee-friendly measures for their physical and mental well-being, it said.

While a centralised 24X7 support and helpline system has been created for its employees across India, the company has decided to advance salaries..

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