Employees of VSP leave for New Delhi to protest the privatisation move

A group consisting of some Vizag Steel Plant (VSP) employees, and union leaders, has left for New Delhi to propose to the Centre to reconsider its decision on privatising the steel plant. Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader, Narsinga Rao, and Steel Plant Union leader, Adi Narayana, left for Delhi in the morning. They are said to meet parliamentary members to seek their support in this endeavour. 

This call, by the employees and leaders, comes at a time when the Central Government has given clarity on the privatisation of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP). On a question raised by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP), Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar, the Union Minister of State for Finance, Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, stated that the Centre had decided to go for 100 percent privatisation and had already started the process of strategic disinvestment of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. It was cleared that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had decided to withdraw 100% of the investment by privatising the Centre’s stake in the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant under the strategic investment withdrawal from VSP.

At the forefront of the ongoing efforts, on Tuesday, Visakhapatnam MP, MVV Satyanarayana, protested against the privatisation of VSP at the Parliament by holding placards of “VIZAG STEEL PLANT – NOT FOR SALE.”

Earlier in the year, several protests and state-wide bandhs by various trade unions were held in a steadfast manner to keep the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) decision at bay. The Joint Action Committee of trade unions, along with thousands of workers, took to streets blocking traffic on the National Highway (NH-16). The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, had also written two letters to  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the same. While these efforts weren’t enough, recently the Andhra Pradesh State Government also passed a resolution opposing it, going against the Central Government’s decision of privatising the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.