Workers and former employees of Visvesaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISP) plant at Bhadravati, besides the people of the industrial town, have joined hands to fight for its revival.
A committee to look into this issue has come into existence under the leadership of S.N. Balakrishna, a former employee. Bhadravati MLA B.K. Sangameshwar is the honorary president. J. Jagadish, president of the labour union of the VISP, is the general secretary. Representatives of all major political parties are involved in the committee formed to put pressure on the State and Union governments to invest money to revive the plant, instead of going for disinvestment.
The Ministry of Steel has decided on disinvestment of the plant, a unit of Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL), and it has already received ‘Expression of Interest’ from interested bidders. Minister for Steel Dharmendra Pradhan had made a statement on this in Rajya Sabha on September 21 this year. This development has been opposed by the workers, former employees and people of the town.
The plant, set up by the Wadiyars of Mysuru in 1923, once had 13,000 employees. The production of hot metal (liquid iron) had reached as high as 2.2 lakh tonnes per annum. The contribution of Mysore Paper Mills and the VISP towards the economy of Bhadravati is significant. However, in recent years the production has come down drastically, decreasing the workforce as well.
At present, there are only 278 regular employees and of them 53 are in the executive posts. Besides them, 1,400 are on contract and they get only 13 days of work a month.
Mr. Jagadish told The Hindu that since January 2017 the production had come down. The steel-making shop (SMS) and blast furnace section have been closed permanently.
“The State government merged the plant with Steel Authority of India in 1989 with the objective of modernising the machinery and improvising the production. But, the purpose was never served as SAIL did not give due attention to the plant,” he said.
In August 2015, then Minister for Steel Narendra Singh Tomar visited the plant and assured ₹1,000 crore for its revival, provided the State government allotted a mine. The State government responded by allotting a mine to extract iron ore at Sandur in Ballari district. “Later, Chaudhari Birender Singh, who was Minister for Steel, visited the plant in March 2018 and gave a similar assurance. But nothing happened. Now the Centre has decided to hand it over to private people,” Mr. Jagadish said.
Mr. Balakrishna, 80, said: “Narendra Modi’s government has decided to sell all public sector units. Though I have been a BJP supporter for a long time, I cannot accept this. The lack of will among leaders representing the State government is the reason why they have failed to influence the Centre to get funds for its revival.”
The committee has decided to meet Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa with the demand soon on this issue.
