Two Merit Awards are being instituted in the College of Engineering, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, at a function in honour of two former CMDs of RINL/Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), in recognition of their outstanding contribution to Vizag Steel.
The function is being held at Tenneti Viswanatham Auditorium, L&D Centre at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant at 3 p.m. on Tuesday (November 15). Mr. B.N. Singh, who would participate as chief guest at the function, would release a book titled ‘Corporate Turnarounds and Human Resource Management’, authored by Y.R. Reddy, former Director (personnel) of RINL, on the occasion..
Andhra University Registrar V. Krishna Mohan and CGM (Maintenance) in-charge, RINL/VSP will participate in the programme.
The Merit Awards being instituted are: D.R. Ahuja Gold Medal in Mechanical Engineering and Dr. B.N. Singh Gold Medal in Metallurgical Engineering.
Mr. Ahuja was the first CMD of the VSP from 1984 to 1990, and it was under his leadership that the construction of the plant was successfully completed. His biggest contribution was approaching then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and, in a one-to-one meeting, convincing him about the potential of VSP at a time when the Centre was on the verge of shelving the project in 1985 citing economic unviability.
When Mr. BN Singh took over as CMD in 1997, VSP had accumulated losses of ₹4,000 crore and was on the verge of being referred to Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction as a ‘sick company’. Through his outstanding leadership, he galvanised the entire workforce of 16,000 employees and steered the company through critical times. Mr. Singh was the architect of the company’s historic turnaround in 2002.
Y.R. Reddy, former Director (Personnel), VSP, and D. Adinarayana, general secretary, Visakha Steel Workers’ Union (recognised), VSP, through their contribution of ₹3 lakh each, are instituting these medals in Andhra University.
These Merit Awards would be presented to the top rankers in B.E. (Mechanical) and B.E.(Metallurgy), respectively, from the year 2023 onwards.
