VISAKHAPATNAM: The strategic disinvestment process of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), has been paused, BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao clarified while talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday.
Rao emphasised that their topmost priority is to figure out how to put RINL back on rails so as to make it a profitable unit, and hence the decision of privatisation of the steel plant has been put on hold. I will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi pertaining protection of the steel plant from privatisation,” the BJP MP added.
Rao stated that lack of iron ore has been one of the reasons for its stagnation and the Modi government is being blamed. “RINL against its full capacity of 7.3 million tons, is producing 5 million tons due to shutdown of a third blast furnace. The previous Congress governments never cared to allocate iron ore mines to RINL,” he alleged.