TDP will fight against privatisation of Vizag steel in 2025 like it did in 1998: Palla Srinivas

Telugu Desam Party president and Gajuwaka MLA Palla Srinivasa Rao said that the party and its government will fight against privatisation of the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited-Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (RINL-VSP) in 2025 like it did in 1998.

Speaking to reporters here on Saturday (August 30), Mr. Rao, while reaffirming the coalition government’s support for the plant’s survival and growth, said: “It was the Telugu Desam Party that resisted privatisation in 1998. In 2025 as well, we will not allow the plant to slip into private hands.”

He also said that the rights of displaced persons (DPs) and local workers were “non-negotiable.”

While crediting Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, he said that it is Mr. Chandrababu Naidu who played a pivotal role in shielding the enterprise from privatisation pressures and ensuring welfare of the workers.

He demanded that 50% of jobs at the steel plant be provided to displaced families and R-Card holders, many of whom have served the organisation as contract employees for decades. Issuing a stern warning to contractors, he said: “The single-window contractor system may streamline operations, but it cannot serve as a pretext to displace long-serving workers. Retention of locals and senior employees is mandatory.”

The legislator recalled that serious irregularities had once plagued the steel plant, alleging that salaries were fraudulently drawn in the names of nearly 2,000 fictitious workers through collusion between certain contractors, officials, and a section of union leaders.

“These malpractices were exposed only after the biometric system was introduced. The coalition government acted swiftly to weed out the bogus names,” he said.

On restructuring, he clarified that the number of contractors, once close to 1,000, was being rationalised to 42 — one for each department — to reduce the financial burden on the organisation. “To portray this streamlining as privatisation is nothing but propaganda,” he maintained.

Appealing to contractors once again, he stressed that displaced persons — whether skilled, semi-skilled, or unskilled — must be reinstated under the single-window framework. “The steel plant is not merely an industrial unit. It is an economic lifeline and an emotional anchor for the people of Visakhapatnam. Its survival is tied to the future of our generations, for which our TDP is always supportive,” he said.