A racket is being carried out across the country to sell cement at black market prices, creating a fake cement shortage.
The average price of a 50 kg bag of cement is around Rs. 1375, but the black market sells it for between Rs. 1800 and Rs. 2000.
Although there is a shortage of cement these days, it was confirmed during an investigation that buyers can still buy any cement stock at the black market price.
Some traders engage in this scam by not stockpiling cement in their warehouses but keeping them in lorries.
So they keep cement in the lorries and sell them so that the Consumer Affairs Authority or some other department can come and inspect their warehouses and say there is no cement.
We have seen smugglers evading the law by claiming that the lorries are ready to transport the ordered cement.
