Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma on Monday rejected the plea by a team of trade union leaders from the city to put off disinvestment of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
Accompanied by Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari and Gajuwaka MLA Ch. Venkataramaiah, the union leaders met Mr. Verma in New Delhi and strongly pleaded to stop the disinvestment process as it would go against the wishes of the people of Andhra Pradesh. “VSP is a pride of AP and it was set up in the city after Visakha Ukku Andhrula Hakku,” Ms. Purandeswari told Mr. Verma.
Union leaders D. Adinarayana (AITUC), Mantri Rajasekhar (INTUC), J. Ayodhyaram (CITU), Ganapati Reddy (HMS) and Varasala Srinivasa Rao ((LJP) were part of the delegation from Visakhapatnam. They also told Mr. Verma that all the trade unions of VSP had decided to go on a 48-hour strike from October 12 in protest against Centre’s decision to offload 10 per cent of its equity.
The Rs.2,500-crore IPO is scheduled to hit the capital market on October 15. The Empowered Group of Ministers comprising Mr. Verma, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma will meet on Tuesday to finalise the price band of RINL’s IPO.
Mr. Verma stated that listing would enhance the credibility of RINL as a Navratna company and expressed his helplessness to stop the disinvestment at this juncture. The Minister said he would see to it that the disinvestment would not exceed 10 per cent and the price of shares fixed at a reasonable rate so as to safeguard the interest of the company.
