Visakhapatnam MP Sribharat interacting with Steel Executives Association leaders at his office in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Visakhapatnam Member of Parliament M. Sribharat assured representatives of the Steel Executives Association (VSEA) that he would raise the issues of RINL-Visakhapatnam with the Union Government during his visit to New Delhi for the Vice Presidential elections on September 8.
VSEA general secretary K.V.D. Prasad accompanied by VSEA vice-president Telikicherla Srinivas met the MP on Tuesday. He said: “We highlighted the challenges faced by the plant and employees such as salary delays, lack of promotions, and higher pensions. The MP responded positively and promised to speak with the plant chairman and take up the pension matter with the Union Labour Minister.
The leaders highlighted operational challenges. They said that the third blast furnace which began operations in 2012 produced 1.9 crore (19 million) tonnes of liquid iron until 2021. Despite all three blast furnaces operational for over eight years, raw material shortage persisted. To overcome these, VSEA has proposed merging the plant with Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) as the best option.
The pointed out that though the productivity of the Vizag steel plant matched other steel plants under the Ministry of Steel, salary revisions have not been implemented. Additionally, “In the latest month’s salary, arrears have accumulated to 430%,” they said.
They also requested sufficient supply of iron ore from NMDC and allocation of railway wagons. Furthermore, they asked for the reinstatement of skilled contract workers who were removed from core departments like the raw material handling plant, coke oven, sinter plant, blast furnace, steel melt shop, and rolling mills.
Published – September 02, 2025 11:31 pm IST
