The Forum for Development of North Andhra (FDNA) has said that a massive people’s movement over 50 years ago had resulted in the Central government establishing the steel plant near Visakhapatnam. The Central and State governments had initially tried to suppress the movement but it was the will of the people that ultimately prevailed, the FDNA said.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, the FDNA leaders recalled that it was the result of the strong people’s movement that RINL-Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, the first shore-based integrated steel plant in the country, came into existence as a 100% government-owned PSU. They appealed to the Prime Minister to revoke the decision to privatise the VSP, allot a captive iron ore mine and allow the plant to expand its capacity to enable it to become a strong player in the domestic and overseas steel markets.
A total of 22,372 acres of fertile agricultural land was acquired and its present market value would be in excess of ₹1.5 lakh crore. They said that handing over such high value public land to private agencies was a breach of public trust. Already, more than 2,000 acres of such valuable land was given away to a private port at a nominal price and that decision itself had invoked public anger.
The present annual capacity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) stands at 7.3 million tonnes. The plant contributes more than ₹42,000 crore of tax revenues to the Centre and the State. The profits of the plant have come down primarily due to the failure of the Centre to allot captive mines and forcing the VSP to buy most of its iron ore requirements at a high cost from the open market. Despite repeated appeals, the Centre had not allowed RINL to have its own mine, which is necessary for it to effectively compete in the domestic and the overseas steel markets..
More than a lakh people are dependent either directly or indirectly on RINL. Vizag Steel, as it is known, stands out prominently as a symbol of the development of the north Andhra Pradesh districts.
Many private agencies, including overseas companies, are eyeing RINL’s invaluable assets, the vast stretch of land and the sophisticated infrastructure in a bid to eliminate competition from the RINL in the domestic and overseas steel markets. They noted that the Centre’s decision to privatise VSP is detrimental to public interest apart from deeply hurting the public sentiment in north Andhra region.
FDNA general secretary A. Aja Sarma, chairman K.V. Ramana and 22 others signed the letter.
