Visakhapatnam Steel Plant privatisation inevitable: Centre

New Delhi: The Centre is firm on its decision to go ahead with its move to privatise the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. "It is inevitable," Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asserted in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Monday. 

The FM had replied to a question by YSRCP MPs, G Madhavi and MVV Satyanarayana. She further said that the Centre had already consulted the State Government in this matter and has solicited their support. She said the State Government did not have any equity in RINL.

Nirmala Sitharaman said that the strategic disinvestment of the equity will lead to infusion of capital for optimum utilization, expansion of capacity, infusion of technology and better management practices. This would result in higher production and productivity and direct and indirect employment opportunities.

The Union Minister reiterated that "while deciding the terms and conditions of the strategic sale, legitimate concerns of the existing employees and other stakeholders are suitably addressed through appropriate provisions made in the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA).

This reply of the Union Minister assumes importance in the wake of the protests that are going on in the State opposing privatisation of VSP. It may be mentioned here that Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had told the employees of the VSP that the State Government had already written a letter to the Centre asking them to reconsider but he had not yet received any reply. It may be recalled that the Chief Minister had written a letter to the Centre to reconsider the decision to privatise RINL following the protests of the Opposition in the State. The ruling party has also assured the employees of RINL that it would not let go the State control over "Visakha Ukku" which was "Andhrula Hakku". The CM had sought allocation of captive mines too to RINL for its better future. In reply to another question raised by TDP MP, K Ram Mohan Naidu and YSRCP MPs, V Balashowry and M Bharat, Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, said the RINL had an outstanding debt of `21,236.01 crore as on December 31, 2020 and the assets of RINL were to the tune of `32,022.32 crore. The investment made by the Government was `4,889.85 crore.