On the day that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Andhra Pradesh, protests intensified against the privatisation of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP). Employees of the plant, under the aegis of Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee (VUPPC) called for a day-long mass boycott of work on Friday, November 11. Altogether, 13,000 workers will be boycotting duties and be a part of their protest along with their families, according to VUPPC. A hunger strike was also undertaken at Kurmannapalem junction.
Addressing the media, Chairperson of VUPPC, D Adinarayana declared that VSP workers working in three shifts would not attend to their duties on Friday, the day PM Modi will visit Vizag. “We wish to bring our protest to the notice of the Prime Minister. We have completed nearly 650 days of agitation, and we are against the Centre’s decision to privatise the plant. The production is being brought down by 50%. The issue must be taken up by Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy with the Prime Minister.”
According to another chairperson of the Committee, VSP achieved a turnover of more than Rs 28,000 crore and a profit of Rs 9,000 crore in the last financial year and has gone into losses in the last six months. The committee demanded that the production of the plant be restored to 100% and the loans be converted into equity. They also demanded that the Union government sanction captive mines to VSP.
According to YSRCP sources, the government has decided to stay away from commenting on the ongoing protests. “The Chief Minister wrote to the PM in February last year urging him to drop the plan to privatise the Vizag steel plant. The party has decided to stay away from the ongoing protests in Vizag.”