CITU deplores bid to privatise RINL
VSP is a unique shore-based integrated steel plant, born out of a historic mass movement of the people of Andhra Pradesh in which thirty-two people laid down their lives
Visakhapatnam: The18th National Conference of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) here on Wednesday said the Central Government’ is firm to privatise Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), popularly known as the Vizag Steel Plant (VSP), and resolved to oppose it through mass movement.
In a resolution moved by CITU general secretary Tapan Sen and accepted unanimously, it said VSP is a unique shore-based integrated steel plant, born out of a historic mass movement of the people of Andhra Pradesh in which thirty-two people laid down their lives.
Established in 1982, the plant symbolises people’s struggle and national self-reliance. Despite persistent delays in fund release by the Central Government, which forced RINL to borrow heavily for commissioning in the early 1990s, the plant commenced production, giving meaning to the slogan “Visakha Ukku – Andhrula Hakku”. Spread over nearly 22,000 acres with modern facilities and a natural coastal advantage, VSP was envisioned as a strategic public sector asset.
Steel is one of India’s eight core industries, crucial for infrastructure, defence, shipbuilding, railways, energy and manufacturing. Located on the eastern coast with proximity to international shipping routes, VSP has immense long-term strategic and economic value.
The resolution rejected asset stripping, disinvestment, the move to outsource shop-floor operations and strategic sale of public sector steel plants, demanded allocation of captive iron ore mines to RINL and full support for expansion and modernisation, condemned retrenchment, forced VRS, wage suppression and denial of statutory benefits, and reaffirmed steel being a strategic sector, VSP must remain in public ownership, accountable to the people and Parliament.
The conference declared that the struggle to save “Visakha Ukku” is inseparable from the broader struggle to defend public sector enterprises, national resources and workers’ rights against corporate-driven neoliberal policies.
