BRS ups the ante against Centre's move to privatise Visakhapatnam steel plant

Hyderabad: Extending the support to the employees of Vizag Steel Plant, the BRS Working President KT Rama Rao on Sunday reiterated that his party would resist the Central government's move to privatise the steel plant.

The Minister wrote an open letter to the Central government detailing the 'evil plans of Modi government' to hand over the VSP to private players, the reasons behind steel plant incurring losses, and the ways in which the plant could be revived. Rama Rao said that as part of the conspiracy to privatise the steel plant, VSP would be pushed into losses and the crisis would be shown as an excuse to hand it over to crony corporate companies.

KTR added that the Centre did not allow the special iron ore mines to the steel plant and due to this the steel plant is forced to spend up to 60 per cent of its production cost on raw material. On the other hand, the cost of raw materials in private companies production was less than 40 per cent as iron ore, coal and other mines were allotted to them. The VSP, which is forced to spend huge amounts on raw materials was facing challenges as it was competing with private corporate companies in the market in terms of production. It was facing losses as the enterprise had to sell at the same price as them in the market.

The BRS leader said that the enterprise was in distress as coal was to be imported, and iron raw materials needed for steel production were being bought at market rate from NMDC. "Due to this, more than 50 per cent of production had to be stopped for a year. All of this is part of a conspiracy to push the steel plant into losses and use it as an excuse to privatize the steel plant. PM Modi wrote off loans worth Rs 12.5 lakh crore for his corporate friends. Why is he not showing the same generosity on the Vizag steel plant?" he questioned.

The minister said that the Modi government was indirectly attempting to handover the PSU to private entities through the notification and demanded that the Centre should immediately cancel the EoI notification.

The minister also suggested a detailed plan to revive the PSU. He said that Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) already announced its expansion plans with a cost of around Rs 1 lakh crore. The company can be merged with the VSP, which has several advantages when compared to selling the steel plant to private companies at a low price. This would contribute towards SAIL's expansion goals. If the company moves in this direction, then an ecosystem can be created to fulfill a long standing demand of a steel factory in Bayyaram, Telangana and a steel plant in Kadapa. If the Centre extends support, the enterprise can work at full capacity which will help it in generating profits.

KTR demanded the Modi government to extend Rs 5,000 crore financial assistance to the steel plant and asked BRS AP unit President T Chandrashekar to extend solidarity to the workers of the steel plant. "Vizag steel is the right of Telugu people and the responsibility is on us to save the steel plant," he said.