Inderjit Singh Pardhan, president and Avtar Singh, general secretary of CICU, said that prices have been hiked from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,000 for various iron and steel products, Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 for the long products of iron, and Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 for flat products.

CICU has condemned this new hike in the prices of steel, which has come about in addition to the earlier hikes that took place in the last six months, to the tune of Rs 8,000 pmt. The members said that a nominal reduction in the prices of steel from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 pmt was announced by the big manufacturers at the behest of the Steel Minister, but ultimately, the five big manufacturers did not abide by their promise of keeping the prices within control.

Pardhan highlighted that this unprecedented hike has doomed the engineering industry, which had procured orders for exports with the hope that prices will remain stable.

He added that with this sudden escalation, the engineering industry of Punjab has lost faith in the commitment made by the Union Steel Ministry.