THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions congratulates the workers and people for their collective initiative to resist the disastrous move of the Govt to privatise Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, RINL through strategic sale.
The Visakhapatnam Steel Plant came into being following peoples’ consistent struggle and agitation for setting up integrated steel plant in Visakhapatnam. Right from the inception, the entire project had faced numerous difficulties and roadblocks by the vested interests but all could be defeated and Vizag Steel Plant was built up and got stabilized. Since then the RINL has consistently improved its operational efficiency and undertaken modernization and expansion successfully and workers played a great role in that process. RINL could consistently contribute to national exchequer in the form of dividend and taxes for quite a long time besides providing employment to a large number of people both directly and also contributing immensely to community development. And such signal achievement RINL could make despite being grossly discriminated by way of denial of allotment of captive iron-ore/coal mines vis-à-vis other integrated steel plants. The very idea of privatization of such an efficient steel plant with huge potential is a reflection of a destructive and sabotaging attitude towards national interests.
It is welcome that people and the working class of Visakhapatnam or in that matter the entire Andhra Pradesh responded immediately in an appropriate language of united agitation to the disastrous and most retrograde move of the BJP Govt with a determination of not to allow such dubious intent to materialize. Ongoing agitation against privatization of Vizag Steel Plant is being participated by all the trade unions and also the people en masse.
CITU extends solidarity to such united struggle of the people and workers to resist the nefarious move to hand over RINL to private hands and calls upon the working people in general to express solidarity to the ongoing struggle at Visakhapatnam. Everywhere privatization move must be resisted and must not be allowed to materialize through peoples’ collective action and intervention in order to defend the nation and the national economy.
Issued by
(Tapan Sen)
General Secretary
