Chapter 176 Suspension of Work
Ron has returned to Uttar Pradesh. This time he traveled light, bringing only Anil and a few other bodyguards with him.
This is his hometown, his base camp, where his family and connections are located, and it is even safer than Mumbai.
Second brother Aditya came to pick him up at the airport, but instead of returning to the village, he went directly to the construction site in the southern suburbs of Varanasi.
This was originally a wasteland that was illegally cultivated. After Ron bought it, Aditya and his friends rudely drove away the nearby farmers.
The lush green crops were destroyed, and bulldozers and rollers took turns to replace them with brown, flat, and solid mud.
Then hundreds of dark, thin workers gathered here, carrying bamboo baskets to carry away the rubble dug up from the ground.
Smart vendors set up tea stalls on the roadside, and the tea business is always good in the hot summer.
However, the busy scene did not last long, and the construction site seemed to be paused.
The yellow construction vehicles no longer roared, and workers sparsely hid under the trees to cool off.
Some were squatting there chewing betel nuts, some were chatting by the tea stalls, and some were simply lying in the mud and sleeping.
There are plastic chairs in the teahouse for customers, but workers are not allowed to sit on them.
Those were specially prepared for the "big guys" on the construction site. They could only huddle in the corner, hunched over and squatting on the ground, just like the servants seen everywhere in India.
The car came and the horn honked loudly.
The pigs and stray dogs that were roaming around the tea shop were in panic and ran around.
The wind created by the car brought dust, sand, and dried pig manure into the tea shop. The driver in the front seat, who was wearing a khaki uniform, slammed on the brakes.
He seemed somewhat smug about the mess he had caused, and after glaring at the workers outside as if to protest, he trotted out of the car and opened the door for his masters Aditya and Ron.
The workers around were extremely envious of the driver's khaki uniform.
For them, being able to become a servant in a wealthy family is the pinnacle moment for several generations and a true achievement.
A fat man came out of the teahouse, holding a notebook. His hair had fallen out, revealing his bumpy scalp.
This guy's nickname is Wild Boar. He not only manages all the workers here, but also supervises the entire construction site.
If you want to make a living in this area, you have to bow deeply before him, touch the mud in front of his slippers, and swallow your anger and agree to pay him rent every day.
Every time he drove past a woman, he would stop, roll down his window, and grin.
When he smiled, his mouth opened wide, revealing two long tusks under his nostrils. The tips of the teeth were slightly curved, looking like wild boar tusks.
The workers were all afraid of wild boars. As long as he showed his fangs, everyone would be scared to death.
They had never known that wild boars could laugh so harmlessly, that flattering, ugly laugh.
The teeth are still bared, but it is not ferocious, but flattering.
If wild boars really had tails, they would be shaking their tails to the sky right now.
"Mr. Soul!" He almost rolled and crawled over.
"Wild boar, did Chada say when we can resume work?" Aditya stood there and said nothing to him.
"Mr. Soul, it's quick! As soon as the cement arrives, the workers will start working immediately, day and night!"
"Where's the steel?"
“Rebar is fast too!”
"Where's the electricity?"
"Electricity? Electricity is also very fast! Very fast!" The wild boar smiled flatteringly the whole time, as if he was wearing a mask.
"That's what you promised a week ago, and you're still talking nonsense today!" Aditya was very angry.
"Mr. Suer, don't worry, let's go to the tea shop and have a cup of tea with this young master."
Wild Boar led the way diligently. He drove away the nearby workers and wiped the plastic stools beside the table again and again.
"The construction period has been delayed for too long. I will call Chadha today. If he doesn't want to do this business, he can just give it to someone else." Aditya cursed.
"Hey, we at Inspur are the most powerful construction company in Uttar Pradesh, you know that!" The wild boar seemed to be quite frightened, but those who knew him knew that this was mostly showmanship.
There was a portrait of Gandhi hanging on the wall of the tea shop. The owner kicked away the temporary worker who was smashing coal nearby and warmly invited everyone to sit down.
There was a black iron pot beside the table, and a waiter was holding a large spoon, slowly stirring the sugar water that was simmering over a low fire.
"Ron, you see, there is a lack of everything on the construction site." Aditya was a little distressed.
When building the dam, there was also a shortage of building materials, but he was not in a hurry.
When it was his turn, he became anxious.
Because this is my own project, every day of delay is a loss.
"Are you short of cement?" Ron frowned.
Cement is not something precious, it is the most basic building material, but the construction party cannot even guarantee this.
“Young Master,” Wild Boar smiled bitterly, realizing only then that Ron was his real employer, “We are already doing our best to purchase.
But Uttar Pradesh has always been short of cement, and now it has to be sourced from Bihar and nearby Madhya Pradesh.”
"Is Uttar Pradesh still short of cement plants? Where did your company get its cement from before?" Ron asked in surprise.
"Well, Uttar Pradesh lacks everything. There are no large cement plants, only small workshops. As for the company..." Wild Boar stuttered.
"Inspur is a construction company that was established just this year, just a few months ago," added Aditya on the side.
"How many months?" Ron was stunned.
The first thought in his mind was not his branch factory, but how such a makeshift team got the government's dam project.
"Chadha played a big role in the Chief Minister election." Aditya gave him a look that said "you know what I mean."
Gurdeep Chadha, a liquor merchant in Uttar Pradesh, was born in Moradabad, an industrial city in Uttar Pradesh, into a poor family.
His father and uncles made a living by wholesale cheap liquor, and Chadha followed them in the business since he was a teenager.
At the age of 20, he started his own business and expanded his business by relying on thugs and bribes. Four years ago, when Yadav was running for election, he sent money in packets in the name of his father.
The two sides established a relationship, and this year Yadav was re-elected as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and Chadha's status also rose.
He was not satisfied with limiting his business scope to the wine industry and began to enter the real estate industry.
Wave Construction Company was Chadha's attempt. Relying on nepotism, he easily got the government bidding project.
Just like the dam project that Aditya was in charge of, Inspur had no qualifications, but what did it matter? No one cared.
"If I remember correctly, there are limestone mines in Uttar Pradesh, right?" Ron asked.
"Young master, you have a good memory. The largest limestone mine in Uttar Pradesh is located in Mirzapur, southwest of Varanasi. There is a cement workshop there." The wild boar's words were full of flattery.
"Where does your cement come from?"
"Yes, we can buy out all the stock of the cement workshop there at one time." Wild Boar was proud.
"Does Inspur have many projects on hand now?"
“Of course, Mr. Chadha and Mr. Yadav are good friends and we have no shortage of business.”
Ron's eyes lit up slightly, and he tapped the table with his fingers habitually.
"What about the steel bars? Are they also missing?" he asked.
“There’s no shortage of steel bars.”
"Um?"
"Rebar is easy to buy, but our goods are stuck on the road. As you know, young master, the roads in Uttar Pradesh are very bad."
Ron felt this deeply. The road they had just driven on looked like it had been bombarded by artillery shells.
"Where's the electricity?"
The wild boar grinned. "There's a power shortage all over India, and Uttar Pradesh is the worst."
"It seems that we still have too few power plants."
"We can only wait for Delhi to allocate funds. The minister really can't afford it." Wild Boar laughed heartlessly.
Uttar Pradesh’s public finances have been completely devoured by parasites, such as companies like Inspur.
"Power Station" Ron frowned in thought.
"Uttar Pradesh also has coal mines, but has no money to build power plants. Yadav should solve this problem. I can't watch TV at home most of the time," Aditya complained.
He looked down on the low-caste "Yadav", but he couldn't satirize him openly, so he could only complain a few words.
"Uncle, you said there are coal mines in Uttar Pradesh?" Ron's voice became higher.
"It's in Sonbhadra, a two-hour drive from here."
Uttar Pradesh's mining resources are concentrated in the southeast. To the southwest of Varanasi is Mirzapur, and to the south of Mirzapur is Sonbhadra.
Coincidentally, they are all near Varanasi, and Aditya has been there more than once.
"Look, the big lumps of coal here are from Sonbhadra."
Aditya pointed and saw a thin figure in the corner of the tea shop, grabbing a piece of black coal and hitting it hard.
He wanted to break the big coal into small pieces so that he could put them under the stove where the sugar water was boiling.
"How much is a piece of coal here?" Ron asked the owner of the tea shop.
"Ten rupees can last for a long time and are not worth the money." The boss put on a flattering smile like a wild boar on his face.
"Ron, no one is mining the coal mines in Sonbhadra. These are all sold privately by local people." Aditya waved his hand nonchalantly.
"Why?" Ron asked curiously.
"Because as long as you mine, the coal you extract can only be used in surrounding industrial projects, such as steel mills and power stations.
This requires a huge investment and carries a high risk. In the end, the government gave away mining licenses for free, but no one wanted them.”
"Don't all companies have a shortage of coal? There must be companies in Uttar Pradesh that need it, right?"
"No need," Aditya shook his head again. "Coal India can provide high-quality coal at a low price, and the supply is sufficient."
Ron understood that, in the final analysis, there was no supply and demand pressure at all.
Coal India is a state-owned enterprise with a huge scale and channels spread across all states.
This is far more cost-effective than mining coal by ourselves. Not only is the cost high, but the coal cannot be shipped out and can only be consumed within the country.
Who would go picking them just because they have nothing better to do?
Well, Ron is the one who eats too much.
"Uncle, we should go meet the Chief Minister." Ron's eyes sparkled.
"What do you want to do?" Aditya had a bad feeling.
"Let's just shut down the Suer Electric branch factory and do other business."
"Ah?" Adiya and the wild boar opened their mouths wide.
(End of this chapter)
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