Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is being made sick to pave the way to hand it over to private hands in phases, AITUC national general secretary Amarjeet Kaur has said.
In a chat with The Hindu , she said the government’s decision to disinvest in profit-making public sector units, and increasing the target for realisation by selling PSUs, to ₹1.05 lakh crore should bring all the employees to a common platform to oppose the ‘ill-conceived’ policies of the National Democratic Alliance coalition at the Centre.
Huge potential to grow
Stating that ‘Modi 2.0’ was bent on dismantling PSUs, she said RINL, India’s first shore-based integrated steel plant, had tremendous potential to grow. “It was forced to shell down more towards production cost as it had been deprived of captive iron ore mines despite several pleas,” Ms. Kaur pointed out.
RINL, which has narrowed down its losses, could not perform well in the first quarter due to present market conditions and continuation of cheap steel imports from China and other countries. The much-hyped thrust on investments in infrastructure had also not been translated into action.
“Steel plants being part of a strategic sector need support from the government. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had decided to privatise loss-making PSUs and go for strategic disinvestment of profit-making PSUs,” Ms. Kaur said.
The NDA Government is going ahead with the 100% equity sale in Salem, Bhadravathi and Alloy Steel Plant in Steel Authority of India Ltd.
Ms. Kaur also took strong exception to 100% FDI into media pointing out that this would lead to acquisition of even local TV channels by foreign media, thus denying voice to the unions and working classes to articulate their grievances and highlight their struggles.
The AITUC leader said the attack on public sector banks was severe and in the name of consolidation, 47 public sector banks were ultimately being converted into seven banks through amalgamation. The privatisation of Railways and Defence and other PSUs would also not augur well for the country.
“The superficial nationalism of the ruling combination was reflected in jingoistic announcements of One Nation One Grid, One Nation One Tax, and One Nation One Card,” Ms. Kaur said
