The credit for giving a new lease of life to the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) should go to former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Visakhapatnam Parliamentary constituency Telugu Nadu Trade Union Council (TNTUC) president Villa Ram Mohan Kumar has said.
A programme was organised by the Steel TNTUC leaders to mark the appointment of Mr. Kumar as president at the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) office on Monday. Later addressing the gathering, Mr. Kumar recalled that when the VSP was on the verge of being referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), Mr. Naidu, who was then Chief Minister of combined Andhra Pradesh, took up the matter with the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. He had also sent a delegation of MPs from the State, under the leadership of K. Yerrannaidu, to apprise the Prime Minister of the situation at the VSP.
He recalled that Mr. Vajpayee had written off the ₹1,336 crore interest accrued by the VSP. In contrast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to privatise the VSP, Mr. Kumar said. He sought that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy should exert pressure on the Union government through MPs from the State to reverse the decision on strategic sale of the VSP. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao should also insist on continuation of the VSP in the public sector, Mr. Kumar said.
The TNTUC leader called upon MPs of other parties to support the proposed strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on August 2 and 3 to save the steel plant a success.
Steel TNTUC president Panchadarla Ugram presided.
Steel TNTUC leaders Balireddy Satyanarayana, N. Demudu, U. Ramakrishna, S. Babji and N. Simhadri were among those who participated in the meeting.
