BL reported that all the unions in the Visakhapatnam steel plant met on Friday and passed a resolution urging the union government to give up the disinvestment proposal, as there is no necessity for such a move and the steel plant here has been set up after an agitation by the people of the State.

The union leaders said 32 persons had lost their lives in the agitation, taken up during the sixties, and, therefore, any attempt to offload stake in the PSU or to privatise it would be resisted.

Mr D Adinarayana, the president of the Visakha Steel Workers' Union and Mr N Rama Rao, the general secretary, said the Government was planning to offload 10% of the stake and mop up INR 480 crores or so, but it was totally unnecessary.

They said “The steel plant is currently expanding its capacity from 3 million tonnes to 6.2 million tonnes and is expending INR 12,000 crores out of its internal accruals. The plant is in a sound financial position and there is no need to do it. The government has taken a policy decision on disinvestment and is applying to the steel plant here. It is entirely unacceptable to us and all the other unions. We will fight the move, which is a prelude to privatisation.”

They also criticised the union government and the state government for not allotting captive iron ore mines to the Visakhapatnam steel plant, in spite of repeated appeals from the plant authorities, the local political leaders and the unions. They said “The lack of captive mines is pushing up the cost of production and making it very difficult for the plant to compete with others in the market. Instead of concentrating on the vital issue, the union government is taking up disinvestment move.”

They said the steel plant employees had staged demonstrations against the move and sent representations to the union government, and if necessary they would not hesitate to strike work. They expressed the hope the Government would heed to their pleas.

(Sourced from thehindubusinessline.com)