Steel workers’ fast completes 364 days

State-wide stir against VSP sale today

Representatives of the Traffic Department of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) participated in the relay hunger strike on the 364th day of the strike, being organised under the aegis of the Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee (VUPPC) at the Steel Plant arch at Kurmannapalem, here, on Thursday.

Addressing the participants, VUPPC leader D. Adinarayana said that as part of the State-wide agitation on February 11, memoranda would be submitted against the decision of the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre to go for strategic sale of VSP, to all the District Collectors in the State. The steel workers were also prepared to lodge their protest in the agitation to be held on February 12 and 13.

The VUPPC leader took strong exception to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman referring to the forthcoming days as ‘Amrut kalam’. The BJP had criticised the Congress in the past saying that it was working for Tata and Birla, but was now working for the promotion of Ambanis and Adanis and those who were questioning it were being branded as ‘traitors’, he alleged. He called for united struggles to oppose the policies of the BJP government.