The relay hunger strike, being observed by the workers of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), under the aegis of Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee, opposing privatisation of VSP continued for the 99th day at the Steel Plant arch at Kurmannapalem, here, on Friday.
The committee leaders from MMSM, STM and SBM departments and workers participated in the relay hunger strike. Porata Committee chairman D. Adinarayana welcomed the unanimous resolution adopted in the Assembly against the decision of the Centre to privatise the VSP. He sought that the Centre should revoke its decision at least now and honour the resolution against the privatisation. He also sought that the State government should not limit itself to passing the resolution but exert pressure on the Centre to withdraw its decision.
Porata Committee co convener K. Satyanarayana, leaders U. Venkateswarlu, J. Ramakrishna, Suribabu, Ravi, Demudu and Ramana Murthy were among those who participated.
Committee convener J. Ayodhya Ram said that a decision was taken by the committee to stage a protest with a 100-foot banner to mark the 100th day of the relay hunger strike on Saturday.
The protest will be held from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. by observing all COVID-19 protocols.
Meanwhile, Marpu Sarat of the VSP Steel Executive Association noted in a statement on the eve of the 100th day of the hunger strikes for VSP, said there was no truth in the claim of the Centre that the VSP was in losses. The VSP management had announced that the plan has achieved a record turnover in 2020-21 fiscal. He described it as a second phase in the history of the plant. The CMD himself had announced that the plant had earned a profit of ₹740 crore in a month. Mr. Sarat noted that it was unfortunate that the Centre was not taking these facts into consideration.
