Revival package not a permanent solution for the ailing Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, says CPI (M)

The Centre’s recently announced special revival package for the RINL-Visakhapatnam Steel Plant may provide temporary relief to the plant’s miserable condition, but it is not a permanent solution, CPI(M) Visakhapatnam district secretary M. Jaggu Naidu said on Saturday. For this, the Centre should allocate captive mines to the plant and publicly declare that the plant will not be privatised under any circumstances, he said.

Speaking to reporters at the party office here, Mr. Naidu said that the CPI (M) party is grateful to the Centre for announcing the ₹11,440 crore revival package, which was a result of protests by the people, trade union leaders and the party and its cadres over the past four years. But, it is not a permanent solution. Instead, the Centre should merge RINL-VSP with Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), withdraw the voluntary retirement scheme and stop laying off thousands of contract workers. He said that the party will not withdraw its protest until all these demands were met by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Chandrababu Naidu government in the State.

On the other hand, Uttarandhra Development Forum General Secretary A. Aja Sarma said that the Centre has not withdrawn the strategic sale of RINL-VSP, the annoucement of which was made in January 2021, and has also not even announced anything about providing captive mines to the plant. Therefore, the Centre has not helped RINL-VSP in the name of ₹11,400 crore revival package. People should understand this valid point, he stated in a release here on Saturday.

Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee member Varasala Srinivasa Rao in a release stated that the plant needs ₹18,000 crore immediately to bring it back to normalcy. So, the revival package of ₹11,400 crore was not sufficient for the plant, which is already having an overdraft of ₹8,000 crores. So, the revival package would not make any impact on the steel plant’s present pathetic condition, he added.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders led by the party state vice president Sagi Viswanatha Raju poured milk on the portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Jagadamba Centre here on Saturday hailing the Centre for announcing the revival package for the steel plant.