Deny NoC, port union pleads AP govt
CITU-affiliated Gangavaram Port Employees' Union has asked the Andhra Pradesh Government to deny permission to the management of Gangavaram Port Limited (GPL), which owns a port on the backyard of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) for acquisition of the port by Adani Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate.
Visakhapatnam: CITU-affiliated Gangavaram Port Employees' Union has asked the Andhra Pradesh Government to deny permission to the management of Gangavaram Port Limited (GPL), which owns a port on the backyard of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) for acquisition of the port by Adani Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate.
Union honorary president and corporator B Ganga Rao told Bizz Buzz on Wednesday that as the project was taken up in the face of stiff public resistance under Public Private Partnership mode, the State could deny 'No Objection Certificate' to Adani Port and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) to acquire controlling stake in GPL-a new generation non-major port located in close proximity to Visakhapatnam Port, owned by the Central Government.
APSEZ on Tuesday declared that it was buying 58.1 per cent stake in GPL from DVS Raju and family at a cost of Rs.3604 crore. This development came close on the heels of announcing acquiring 31.5 per cent equity from Warburg Pincus at a cost of Rs 1,954 crore. The attempt to have controlling stake is subject to regulatory approvals.
"GPL took up construction of the port under PPP route after the powers-that-be forced Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant to alienate 1,200 acres to facilitate development of the port. Despite an agitation spearheaded by fishermen and project affected people of Gangavaram and Dibbapalem, and death of one fisherman opposing the port project in police firing, the then government brought pressure to construct the port without taking up construction of fishing jetty for rehabilitating displaced fishermen," Ganga Rao said.
The land which was later handed over to the project proponent along with 1,000 acres for developing a green belt was originally meant for construction of a captive jetty for Visakhapatnam Steel Plant to reduce its production cost, said Katam SS Chandra Rao, joint secretary of Steel Executives Federation of India (SEFI). The land given by the State to GPL became its equity.
