BJP conspiring to hand over Vizag Steel to private players, says A.P. Congress chief Sharmila
The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is using a 'silent tactic' to destabilise the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited-Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (RINL-VSP), ultimately trying to hand it over to private companies, said Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Y.S. Sharmila Reddy here on Wednesday.
She was in the city to launch an indefinite strike at the plant site in support of the terminated contract workers of the steel plant.
The government has conspired to destabilise the steel plant without allocating captive mines and even raw materials (iron ore). She said that while the plant once had 34,000 employees, that number has now dwindled to less than 20,000. 'The ₹11,400-crore revival package is a lie. The government has taken back ₹8,000 crore from the package in the form of various taxes and loan arrears. The government has conspired to slowly weaken the steel plant and finally give it to corporate companies like Adani,' said Ms.Sharmila.
The coalition government in the State and its parties Jana Sena and Telugu Desam Party have also betrayed Vizag Steel and have not considered their election promises made during the poll campaigns. They said that they would save the steel plant if elected to power. She accused both Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan of using the steel plant for their politics.
She said that both of them are acting as silent spectators while their partner, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is trying to privatise the steel plant with all his might against the wishes of lakhs of people of Andhra Pradesh, including its employees and their families.
City police late on Wednesday evening cleared the protest site where Ms. Sharmila Reddy launched an indefinite hunger strike in support of contract workers of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. They shifted her from the site as well as other prominent agitators in the steel plant area. This resulted in a tense situation. Police forces were deployed at the site to ensure that no untoward incidents take place from the agitators of the steel plant trade unions and their supporters representing political parties, including Congress.
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