Trade unions up in arms against Visakhapatnam Steel Plant 'sale'

Visakhapatnam: The agitation opposing the decision taken by Union Cabinet a few days ago to go in for 100 per cent disinvestment in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant seems to be boiling into a major controversy and all trade unions and others are gearing up for massive agitation.

The employees of the VSP have been holding dharnas and protests for past three days. A major agitation on Friday is also being planned.

The unions suspect that efforts are on to handover the plant to a major group which could be Adani group. A social activist from Jagdalpur Kondal Rao said that the VSP gets iron ore from mines in Jagdalpur and Adani group was trying to get those mines.

He said the locals have been strongly opposing this move and have resorted to agitation. Based on this, the unions suspect that the Centre was planning to sell it to Adanis. They, however, said they have no confirmation about who the prospective buyer was.

They said that the VSP was a result of long-drawn agitation in the past and had come to be known as 'Visakha Ukku Andhrula Hakku'.

They said that speculations are rife that efforts are on to sell away the steel plant for about Rs 1,000 crore or so.

The employees are willing to contribute that amount without taking a bank loan to the Centre if it drops the proposal to go in for privatisation of the steel plant.

They further said that the VSP had given 4,000 tons of steel for the Statue of Unity and hence the VSP should also be seen as symbol of unity.