A.P. Intellectuals’ Forum convener Chalasani Prasad addressing a roundtable in Visakhapatnam on Friday.
| Photo Credit: V. RAJU
The tendering for Expression of Interest (EOI) to hand over the operation and maintenance of Raw Material Handling Plant (RMHP) and Sinter Plant departments in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) will pave the way for its privatisation, opined the speakers at a roundtable on Friday.
The meeting was organised by the Visakha Ukku Parirakshna Porata Committee (VUPPC) at Alluri Vignana Kendram.
Andhra Pradesh Intellectuals’ Forum convener Chalasani Srinivas, VUPPC chairmen Ch. Narasinga Rao, D. Adinarayana and Mantri Rajasekhar, convener K.S.N. Rao, Visakhapatnam district trade unions JAC chairman M. Jaggunaidu, vice-chairman M. Manmadha Rao, CFTUI national president N. Kanaka Rao, AITUC leaders K. Satyanarayana, Sk. Rahaman, CITU leader U. Ramaswamy, INTUC leader Ramana Murthy, VUPPC leaders Varasala Srinivasa Rao, David and TVK Raju were among those who participated.
They sought that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan should exert pressure on the Centre to ‘protect the VSP’.
The participants demanded the withdrawal of the call for EOI. They sought a halt to the termination of contract workers and the immediate restoration of the services of workers who have already been terminated.
Alleging that ‘the process to privatise VSP’ was hastened after TDP-led NDA government came to power, they said that the government had purchased 60 lakh tonnes of steel from a private company in Raipur for the construction of the capital city in Amaravati, instead of procuring the same from the VSP.
They alleged that the police force was being used against the workers who had been opposing the privatisation move.
The VSP plant management was resorting to various methods to cut down its workforce. Already, 1,125 workers have been given VRS, and 4,000 contract workers shown the door without any standard procedures.
The roundtable adopted resolutions on several demands—to revoke the decision of strategic sale of VSP in the coming Parliament sessions, allocation of captive mines to the VSP, restoration of the services of contract workers, and stopping the privatisation of various departments in the name of ‘operation and maintenance’.
Published – July 05, 2025 09:29 am IST
