VISAKHAPATNAM: As of today, the Centre is not interested in going ahead with the immediate strategic disinvestment of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), Union Minister of State for Steel and Rural Development Faggan Singh Kulaste said on Thursday and added that the Central government wants to further strengthen RINL (Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited) and set up new units.
On the sidelines of ‘Rozgar Mela’ held in Vizag the minister was questioned on the two-year agitation against the move to privatise VSP. Responding, he said the Plant was facing issues related to raw material supply and the Centre was trying to address the problem.
Asked about Telangana government’s plans to participate in the Expression of Interest (EoI) to fund VSP’s working capital or supply of raw material, Singh said it was within State government’s purview.
It may be recalled that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on January 27, 2021 had approved the strategic disinvestment of RINL by way of 100% privatisation, along with Centre shareholding in its subsidiaries.
Meanwhile, a delegation of Visakha Ukku Porata Committee, accompanied by Visakhapatnam MP MVV Satyanarayana, met the Union minister and submitted a memorandum, demanding withdrawal of the proposal for 100 per cent strategic disinvestment of the plant and allocation of the captive iron ore mines.
They said the VSP helped in enrichment of economic development of the country by contributing Rs 50,000 crore in the form of taxes.Requesting him to expand the plant and provide jobs to all those who get displaced due to it, the Porata panel said, “For the past two years, the plant was running on profits.”
“Withdraw the proposal for strategic sale and allot iron ore mines to the Plant to save it from its present plight. Interest rates on bank loans should be reduced and offer a moratorium on the interests accrued on the existing loans.”
The Union minister assured to take up the demands to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the Porata Committee maintained that it would continue agitating against the Centre’s disinvestment plans. Panel chairman D Adinarayana said they will withdraw their agitation only after the Centre pulls the plug on the disinvestment plan. Further, another member of the Porata panel, Varasala Srinivasa Rao said they urged the minister not to allow private companies to submit an EoI. The last date to submit an EoI is April 15.
Meanwhile, the core committee of the Steel Officers’ Association met Faggan Singh and urged him to allow the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) to provide resources to run the VSP at full production capacity. Further, they pointed out that promotion policy should be clarified immediately as steel officers had not been given promotions over the past three years.
Stressing that the current situation at RINL was due to lack of captive mines, the Association suggested, “RINL should be merged into SAIL again so that both entities make more profits.The merger will help meet the target of 300 million tonnes of steel by 2030 and accelerate the VSP’s production capacity by 20 million tonnes, thereby creating thousands of jobs.”
SCCL team returns to Hyderabad
The five-member team of Singareni Collieries concluded its two-day visit to the Steel Plant and left for Hyderabad Thursday morning.All eyes are now on whether the Telangana government will file an EoI or not with just two days for the deadline. The SCCL team visited the plant to study the feasibility of participating in the bid invited by RINL.
Steel Association calls for SAIL-RINL merger
Steel Officers’ Association said, RINL should be merged into SAIL again so that both entities make more profits & added merger will help meet target of 300 MT of steel by 2030 and accelerate the VSP’s production by 20 MT