Union Minister of Steel Ram Charan Prasad Singh, who said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that the decision to privatise Visakhapatnam Steel Plant was irrevocable and would not be revisited, drew shock and ire from the steel plant workers and unions in the city on Thursday.
“The steel plant is in deep losses of over ₹7,000 crore and hence, it is proposed to privatise it. Moreover, the productivity of the plant is also very low and the problem would not be solved even it is allotted captive mines,” the Union Minister said in a reply to a question raised by YSRCP and TDP MP in the Lok Sabha.
“The losses being incurred by VSP are due to the lethargy and inefficiency of the workers and not due to the non-allocation of captive mines,” the Union Minister had asserted. The remarks drew round condemnation from political parties and unions.
CPI(M) State secretariat member Ch. Narasinga Rao said that the Union Minister was uttering lies in Parliament on the VSP issue. “The contention of the Central Government that a decision was taken on strategic sale of VSP as the government was not in a position to bear the liabilities of the plant is a lie. The loans taken by VSP were cleared along with interest through the profits made by the plant as there was no financial assistance from the government,” Mr. Narasinga Rao said.
Effigy of Minister burnt
Steel workers, under the aegis of the Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee (VUPPC), staged a dharna opposite the Administration Building of VSP on Thursday and burnt an effigy of the Union Minister.
VUPPC leader U. Ramaswami said it was unbecoming on the Minister’s part to spread falsehoods. He said that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Steel had submitted in its report to the Lok Sabha that the steel plant has earned a net profit of ₹584 crore during the 2021-22 fiscal till February-end. He alleged that it was nothing but a mockery of the workers in a bid to demoralise them. He called upon all sections of the people to participate in the general strike on March 28 and 29 to oppose the policies of the Centre.
VUPPC leader Gandham Venkata Rao said that the contradictory statements being issued by the Central Government would be opposed tooth and nail. He clarified that VSP has the unique distinction of clearing its loans along with interest with the profits made through sales. He wondered how was the Centre justified in deciding on the ‘strategic sale of VSP’ on the pretext of losses while writing off loans to the tune of ₹11 lakh crore to corporate groups.
