About 4,000 construction workers staged a demonstration close to Kochin, India on Wednesday, seeking immediate intervention of the Central and State governments to bring down the prices of raw materials, particularly sand and cement.

The workers, including 700 women, affiliated to different trade unions and coming from various parts of the district, demanded that sand and cement, the main raw materials used in the industry, should be brought under Essential Commodities Act.

Claiming that sand prices, which were rs.1,500 per unit a month ago, had gone up to rs.3,500 and cement prices from rs.145 to rs.205, the workers appealed to the Governments to bring down the prices through its intervention and sought uniform and uninterrupted supply of materials.

Holding placards, the workers, who have stopped work in the district, raised slogans in support of their demand during the demonstration, lasting nearly one hour, police said.