Ludhiana: Unable to get
relief from the frequent artificial fluctuation in rates of raw steel material,
a delegation of city businessmen on Wednesday met Union minister of state for
industry and commerce, Som Parkash. Once again raking up the issue of absence
of a steel regulatory body to monitor the artificial price fluctuation of steel
ingots, the furnace industrialists urged the MoS to convince the
authorities and ministries concerned to urgently set up a steel price regulator.
Gurmeet Singh Kular, president of Federation of
Industrial and Commercial Organization (FICO) said, “We met MoS Som Parkash and
discussed the burning issues of industry — the steep rise in the rate of raw
steel material of all kinds, which has become a very frequent phenomena these
days. We have submitted a written memorandum to him, demanding an immediate
resolution to this problem.”
FICO chairman K K Seth said, “The abnormal hike in
the prices of steel and other raw materials is killing the MSMEs. The
government should also try to chalk out ways to directly supply steel and other
raw materials at a reasonable price to us, so that export competitiveness of
value-added products is maintained.”