Union Budget dashed our hopes, say employees of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant

Visakhapatnam Steel Plant employees express anger at NDA government for ignoring plant in Union Budget.

The employees of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) and their family members have expressed their anger at the Centre and the NDA government in Andhra Pradesh for ignoring the steel plant issue in the Union Budget, which was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Tuesday. The NDA government in its previous term, had proposed 100% strategic sale of the PSU.

The VSP employees said they had high hopes on the Union Budget with the recent developments including the visit of Union Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy, a series of review meetings and promises of Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu. “But, our hopes were dashed,” they said.

Varasala Srinivasa Rao, a member of the Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee, said that the NDA parties including Jana Sena Party, BJP and TDP had made big promises before the elections that they would protect the steel plant.

“The NDA governments came into power both at the Centre and the State. We all expected that ₹3,100 crore will be allocated for the steel plant in the budget. The NDA government has not even mentioned the steel plant in the budget. This is unfortunate and a big conspiracy,” Mr. Srinivasa Rao said.

Visakha Steel Executives Association general secretary K.V.D. Prasad said, “Both the Union and the State governments forgot the steel plant. Visakhapatnam has been completely ignored in the Union Budget without any sanctioning any project such as railway zone, metro rail apart from our steel plant. We are deceived.”

CPI(M) Visakhapatnam district secretary M. Jaggu Naidu said that the Modi 3.0 government has again cheated the people of Visakhapatnam. It is not only the failure of the BJP at the Centre, but also the MPs, who failed to fight at the Central level for funds and projects for Visakhapatnam, he said.

“This apart, according to the A.P. Reorganisation Act, the Centre should give grants to the State, but announcing ₹15,000 crore as credit from international banks is outrageous,” Mr. Jaggu Naidu said.