Representatives of various trade unions, people’s organisations, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) and PSUs Protection Committee have appealed to the public, the State government, political parties, traders, and educational and transport sectors to participate in the ‘Visakha Bandh’ on March 28 and make it a success.
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In a joint statement on Monday, they condemned the ‘adamant attitude’ of the Centre for deciding to go ahead with the strategic sale of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), ignoring the protests by VSP workers for nearly 400 days.
All trade unions, people’s organisations and the public as well as political parties, barring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), were supporting the agitation, they said.
They alleged that the Centre was trying to weaken the VSP by reducing its production. They said that VSP had posted a net profit of ₹566 crore and a turnover of ₹24,560 crore during the current financial year. The plant was set up on 6,000 acres of land, while the remaining 16,000 acres of land was vacant, they said, alleging that the Centre was planning to hand over the vacant land on a platter to private investors under the guise of a ‘monetisation pipeline’.