Visakhapatnam Steel Plant union leaders plan meeting with lawmakers to press for a ‘permanent solution’
The Hindu
VUPPC leaders express concerns over the inadequacy of the Centre's revival package for Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, seek permanent solutions.
Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee (VUPPC) leaders on Sunday said that they would meet MLAs and MPs to convey to them that the revival package announced recently by the Centre to bail out the beleaguered Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) would prove to be inadequate in addressing the critical issues plaguing it, which they said can only be solved through ‘permanent solutions’ such as merging the plant with Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and providing it captive mines.
At a committee meeting in Ukkunagaram on January 19 (Sunday), the VUPPC leaders said celebrations and thanksgivings being held in the city in response to the financial package were premature, as the problems facing the plant were yet to be resolved.
The committee decided to postpone their ‘human chain’ protest which they had originally scheduled to hold on Republic Day against the proposed privatisation of the plant, and said they would knock on the doors of the elected representatives to try and convince them of the need to put pressure on the Centre for a permanent solution to the plant’s problems.
“The financial package was announced as a result of our untiring protest against the proposed strategic sale of the plant for the last four years. But this is not a lasting solution,” said VUPPC leader D. Adinarayana.
“We welcome the Centre’s package, but we cannot be satisfied with it as it is not a permanent solution,” said a committee member V. Srinivasa Rao.
Another leader, Ayodhya Ramu, said that the ₹11,440 crore announced as a financial bailout would hardly be sufficient in addressing long-term issues as the plant already had an overdraft of ₹8,900 crore. He added that the committee’s course of action would be announced by next week, and asked trade union activists not to be satisfied with the revival package.
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