Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the state government will mount pressure on the Union government to stall the proposal of disinvestment in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP).
During the meeting with the VSP trade union leaders at Vizag airport, he assured them that the state will sincerely work to stop privatisation of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) and shall pass a resolution in the ensuing Assembly session.
Further, the CM clarified that South Korean steel-making company POSCO did not meet him over VSP but have shown interest in other projects. They want to set up factories at Kadapa, Krishnapatnam, and Bhavanapadu.
"We gave a written letter to the prime minister narrating the background and the present crisis of the VSP and his reply is awaited. Hope there will be a positive response," Reddy said.
He also asked the unions to maintain the production level without pushing the plant into further problems.
Indirectly hitting out at opposition Telugu Desam Party-TDP, he said some people are talking about the issue without any effort to take it up at the Central level, fully knowing the state has a limited role and the local leaders of the national ruling party can also take up the issue with the Centre.
The chief minister urged the trade unions to cooperate in running the plant and promised to jointly explore ways to tide out the crisis.
As the plant has no captive iron ore the production cost is going up by an additional Rs 4,000 per tonne and a request was made to the Centre to allot one ore from neighbouring Odisha on lease, the CM added.
He stated that the RINL already has five mines in Odisha in the name of EIL, holding 51 per cent stake. We asked the Centre to give one for the state on lease as the mines have deposits of 200 million tonnes, he said.
The chief minister also mentioned that VSP has debts of about Rs 22,000 crore, of which Rs 12,000 crore are long-term loans, another Rs 10–11 trillion were taken in the form of working capital and converted into long-term debts, and suggested the Union government convert the bank loans into equity.
He also stated that the plant has 20,000 acres of land of which 7,000 acres were not in use and can be sold in plots and pool funds.
The chief minister later participated in the annual celebrations of Sarada Peetham.