Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee opposes privatisation of steel plant core units
The Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee has demanded that the Centre and the RINL-Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) management withdraw the decision to hand over the core units of the steel plant to private contractors for operation and maintenance.
Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, committee chairmen Mantri Rajasekhar, Ch. Narasinga Rao and D. Adinarayana alleged that a Union Minister Nitin Gadkari-backed private contracting company from Maharashtra has already been undertaking contract work of the Marketing Department. The contract company is not following the rules and regulations of the steel plant. Now, the government and the management have decided to give more core units to private contractors, like the company from Maharashtra, thereby indirectly conspiring to privatise the plant. The management has also issued an RoI (request of interest) inviting interested private companies to operate & maintain the Steel Plant's Sinter plant, and Raw Material Handling plant, they added.
'The leaders and workers of the Porata Committee are strongly opposing this step of handing over the steel plant core units to private contractors in a phased manner, thereby removing the existing regular and contract staff, which is a heinous act of the government. People should take note of all these things of the government, and the committee is also fighting against these decisions until the plant withdraw them,' said Mr. Narasinga Rao.
Mr. Rajasekhar said in the last decade, there has been no recruitment in the plant, no increase in the salaries or promotions of the staff. He said that these are psychologically weakening the workforce forcing them to work under pressure and dissatisfaction. These were one of the reasons behind the increasing number of the staff showing interest in the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), he said.
Blast Furnace-3
Speaking about the resumption of charging of Blast Furnace-3 on June 27, they said that they welcome the good step taken by the plant management to reopen Blast Furnace-3, but it is not a permanent or effective solution to revive the plant profitably or regain the glory of the plant.
'The immediate step or solution is to allot captive mines or merge the plant with Steel Authority of India Limited (SAI). Otherwise, there is no point in running the furnaces by spending thousands of crores of rupees additionally by depending on others to procure raw materials,' said Mr. Adinarayana.
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