Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari, Gajuwaka MLA Ch. Venkataramaiah, and local trade union leaders have met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urged him to reconsider the decision on disinvestment in the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL).
During the meeting in Delhi, the Prime Minister gave a patient hearing and promised that RINL would not be privatised, the union leaders who arrived here said.
They said that the Prime Minister told them that the Congress had strongly opposed privatisation when the proposal was mooted during the BJP-led NDA government.
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Union leaders D. Adinarayana (AITUC), Mantri Rajasekhar (INTUC), J. Ayodhyaram (CITU), and Varasala Srinivasa Rao (Janshakti Mazdoor Sangh) said the Prime Minister advised them to interact with Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to discuss their viewpoint.
The union leaders told the Prime Minister that RINL, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, was set up after a Statewide agitation and it was being held as “Pride of Andhra Pradesh.”
Ms. Purandeswari, in a representation submitted to the Prime Minister, said the Congress had strongly opposed when the NDA government tried to privatise RINL at a time when it suffered losses to the tune of Rs.10,000 crore.
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“Now the company is earning profits regularly and the credit goes to the UPA government.” She said still the disinvestment process had been initiated and pointed out that RINL could save Rs.6,000 crore if it was allotted captive mines.