Merging VSP with SAIL will change former’s fate

Visakhapatnam: The lost glory of Visakhapatnam steel plant could be brought back by merging it with SAIL as it serves as a permanent solution, said BJP leader and SAIL independent director Sagi Kasi Vishwanatha Raju.

At a media conference here on Monday, Raju said the proposal to merge the VSP with SAIL was brought to the attention of Union steel minister HD Kumaraswamy.

He said that the public representatives of the state government have been making efforts to get VSP merged with SAIL so that its fate would be totally changed.

He stated that if the merger process is completed, the cost of steel production would be reduced drastically. He said that the VSP management was paying an additional Rs1,200 crore every year on the purchase of coal.

Further, Vishwanatha Raju observed that in order to merge VSP with the SAIL, slight changes need to be made in the existing policy of the SAIL.

The SAIL independent director revealed that a key meeting on the steel plant will be held in Delhi on Tuesday and informed that important decisions are likely to be taken in the meeting.

He opined that the VSP issue is likely to come to an end in the meeting to be held with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Union Ministers.

The YSRCP government was considering shifting the VSP from Ukkunagaram and constructing buildings there for the capital city, Vishwanatha Raju alleged. He opined that once Visakhapatnam Steel Plant gets merged with SAIL, all the plant related problems will be resolved.