To check the rising price of cement, the Tamil Nadu government has not only planned to import cement but has taken concrete steps to modernise the state owned Tamil Nadu Cements Corporation Ltd (TANCEM). The state would invest Rs 165 crore for the modernisation and capacity addition works at Alangulam plant near Rajapalayam, which would increase the production capacity from 2 lakh tonne to 4 lakh tonne. The government has earmarked Rs 350 crore for the Ariyalur plant, which after modernisation and capacity addition works, would increase the capacity from 5 lakh tonne to 15 lakh tonne. With this expansion, the government’s share in cement production would go up to 10 per cent from the present 3.6 per cent. But the state has a mammoth task ahead as TANCEM’s capacity is hardly 7 lakh tonne at present, which is insufficient to meet the state’s cement requirement.