Breakdown of a grinding plant at the Javedan Cement last week has adversely affected its production capacity and has brought it down from 2000/1800tpd to about 850/900tpd.

Sources said that the repair would take a few more days - "even weeks" - depending upon the availability of accessories needed for the repair of the plant. They said that JCL is an old factory and it grossly suffers from maintenance due to internal bickering among the senior management. 

The unit was already on the privatisation list, which is why expenditure on ’’trivialities’’ has been stopped forthwith, the sources said. 

They said that even a proposal to make the unit more lucrative for the buyer and economical for the State Cement Corporation its conversion from furnace oil base to coal base has been turned down by the ministry of production on the advice of the Privatisation Commission. 

The present breakdown would cost heavy loss to the company, as it would hit hard its cement market share.