VIJAYAWADA: Asserting that the Andhra Pradesh government is opposing the privatisation of Public sector Undertakings (PSUs), YSRC MP V Vijaya Sai Reddy said that AP is the biggest victim of the Central government’s decision to privatise PSUs.
The state government has been agitating against the proposal to privatise Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) for the past one-and-a-half years. But there was no response from the Centre, he said.
Participating in the debate on the Appropriation Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, the YSRC MP said that the Central government wants to privatise Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) for the simple reason that it is incurring losses.“But in reality the VSP is not incurring losses. I request the Union Finance Minister to go into the records. In the current year, the VSP earned Rs 1,000 crore profits,” he said.
Stating that the initial investment of the Centre in VSP is about Rs 5,000 crore, he said the VSP paid Rs 51,000 crore to the Centre and state government as dividends. Deploring the decision to privatise the PSUs, the YSRC MP suggested that the Centre focus on restructuring, revamping and reviving the PSUs rather than privatising them.
Stating that the non-allocation of captive mines and the refusal of the Centre to restructure the debt of the VSP was the causes for the losses, he said that the AP government is completely opposing the privatisation of PUSc, banks and insurance companies.Vijayasai Reddy supported the Appropriation Bill and the Finance Bill - 2022.