JOIN USAndhra Pradesh bandh to protest Vizag Steel Plant privatisation plan peaceful
The Andhra Pradesh bandh organised on Friday to protest the centre's plan to privatise Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) is going on peacefully in the state.
All the political parties, people's organisations, trade unions except the BJP are participating in the protest call given by the Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Samiti.
The YSRCP government has also extended its support to the bandh.
On Thursday, Minister for Information and Public Relations Perni Venkataramaiah said that the YSRCP government is against the privatisation of VSP and in this regard, Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting alternatives to retain the organisation in the public sector.
Since Friday morning, state transport corporation buses were confined to the depots as the minister said that APSRTC services will be stalled till 1 pm. The staff wearing black badges will resume their duties later on. All the emergency health services are operational as usual.
Protesters blocked roads at several places and most of the commercial establishments, educational institutions etc., were shut.
In Visakhapatnam, where the PSU with a 7.3 million tonne per annum (MTPA) production capacity is located, large scale human chains and protest rallies were held.
The Modi government's plans to privatise the Vizag Steel Plant – a major icon of Visakhapatnam in north coastal Andhra Pradesh – has led to protests in the city since last month.
The plant, a Navratna Public Sector Enterprise operating under the ministry of steel, is spread over 20,000 acres and Visakhapatnam is popularly known as “steel city,” because of VSP.
In January, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its in-principle approval for 100 per cent strategic disinvestment of the centre's shareholding in Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (the corporate entity of VSP) “along with management control by way of privatisation.”
VSP, commissioned in 1992, is the first shore-based integrated steel plant in the country. The plant employs about 15,000 permanent and 20,000 contract workers and provides indirect livelihood to over 65,000 people. The plant thus supports one lakh jobs and about five lakh people – about a quarter of Vizag city population, unions say.
However, the main drawback and the reason for the losses reported of RINL-Vizag Steel, over the years, is the lack of captive iron ore mines.
VSP unions have been agitating for allocation of captive mines from the last few years. The demand is now being echoed by the political parties. The VSP's foundation was laid in 1977 by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, after a prolonged agitation, when people rallied with a popular slogan “Visakha ukku-Andhrula hakku” (Vizag Steel is Andhra's right). The agitation had reportedly claimed over 30 lives.
CM Reddy had earlier stated that his government would do everything in its capacity to stop VSP's privatisation, including sending a resolution passed by the state assembly opposing the centre's plans.