Trade unions protest as POSCO team visits VSP

They oppose land allocation to Korean steelmaker as part of the joint venture

Trade unions affiliated to the CITU, the AITUC and others staged a demonstration at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) to register their protest against the visit of a team from Korean steelmaker POSCO to explore the possibility of entering into a joint venture with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), on Thursday.

Around 200 members from various trade unions gathered near the administrative office of the RINL and staged a protest even as a posse of police personnel was deployed to prevent any untoward incident.

VSP recognised union president and CITU leader J. Ayodhyaram said that RINL Chairman-cum-Managing Director P.K. Rath and other senior officials held a meeting with the POSCO team at the project office.

As part of the joint venture, the POSCO has proposed a high-end steel plant on the land belonging to the RINL in Visakhapatnam, to meet the demand of automobile industry. However, the trade unions are vehemently opposing it.

Among others, CITU State president Ch. Narsinga Rao, AITUC leader D. Adinarayana and others took part in the protest. They alleged that despite the denial by Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the proposal was still under active consideration.

“A layout has been prepared in 2,768 acres by the RINL management for its allotment to the POSCO for the proposed joint venture at the behest of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and this will lead to the privatisation of the public sector unit,” said representatives of trade unions.

Expansion plan

They said the RINL, instead of going for the joint venture, should try to make use of its land bank to expand its capacity from 7.3 million tonne to 16 million tonne as per the original DPR by obtaining loans from banks and other financial institutions.