Protesting to the rising prices of cement and sand, the Builders Association of India (BAI) proposed to stage a state-wide demonstration in Coimbatore. "The association is to take out a rally and present a memorandum to officials concerned," said K. Viswanathan, National Vice-President of BAI. The cement companies allegedly created an artificial demand to increase the price and want the situation corrected immediately. S Pandian, Chairman, BAI Madurai Chapter, said that the price of a bag of cement has increased by around 20 per cent within the last two to three months alone despite cement companies having been fined for malpractices. Despite a verdict from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) there seemed to be no control over the prices of cement. The cement companies did not reduce prices despite the CCI order. Currently the price has risen to Rs 330 per bag from Rs. 260-275 and the price of sand rose up to Rs 5,000 from Rs.3, 000.