Vizag Steel Plant: 460 employees of Vizag Steel Plant, who have been affected by VRS, have already applied.
Vizag Steel Plant: Employees of Vizag Steel Plant are on the path of VRS. 460 employees have already applied for VRS. Due to 31st of this month, there is a chance for some more employees to register for VRS. Due to this the number of employees in the steel plant is decreasing.
The TDP coalition government of the state and the NDA coalition government at the Center say that the steel plant will not be privatized. It is being said that Rs 11,444 crore has been allocated for the steel plant, hence privatization will be stopped. However, many questions are being raised regarding the implementation of the VRS scheme. Seven to eight thousand executive and non-executive posts are vacant for about seven years. Another 1,218 employees are retiring by December this year. With this, those 1,218 posts will become vacant. No post has been filled since 2018. As of 2018, the number of employees was around 16,000, but now this number has reduced to 12,332. This number is likely to reduce further with VRS.
The VRS scheme is being implemented for those employees whose service is still pending after January 2026. The process of application for VRS, which started from 15th of this month, will continue till 31st of this month. Of the 12,332 employees so far, 2,950 are executives and 9,382 are non-executive employees. Of these, 460 people have registered for VRS in the last four days. Of these, 208 are executive and 252 non-executive employees. The owner of Vizag Steel says that the Central Government has allocated Rs 500 crore for this VRS scheme.
Employees are being cut due to this VRS scheme. There is a shortage of employees due to a large number of vacant posts not being filled yet and on the other hand, contract employees not being renewed. Already, 800 of the 4,000 contractual workers have not been renewed. That’s why they are not working. Steel production is affected due to shortage of personnel. Presently steel is being produced through only two furnaces. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav says that the third furnace will be made available by August.
But if three furnaces are involved in production, more workers and staff will be required. At present, 15 thousand tonnes of steel is being produced daily from two furnaces. Actually, the capacity of both the furnaces is to produce only 14 thousand tonnes of steel per day. But labor union leader Prasad said that due to the hard work of the employees and workers, 1,000 tonnes of steel was being produced at low cost.
Employees are facing many problems due to closure of leave encashment, LTC, LLTC, LTA. Apart from this, six percent allowances for officers have been abolished and HRA for employees has been stopped. Electricity charges increased for residents of steel quarters. Will the salary be sufficient despite this financial burden? means no. For the last four months, the management has withheld 250 percent of the salaries of the employees. There is an outstanding of around Rs 1,000 crore on PF Trust, SABF Trust and Thrift Societies.
On the other hand, leave encashment due to retired employees from this year is also not being paid properly. In this background, fear and insecurity has increased among the employees. Due to this, the number of people applying for VRS is increasing. But compared to the number of filings in the first two days, the Rs 11,444 crore revival package after the announcement was slightly lower. Apart from this, those registering for VRS are also not stopping. This will cause serious damage to Vizag Steel Plant.
On the other hand, there are many doubts among the employees and personnel regarding how the Rs 11,444 crore allocated by the Central Government will be spent. Labor union leaders claim that they do not understand what the ownership did and how they spent Rs 2,250 crore from the transfer of 1,500 acres of land to NNDC and Rs 260 crore from the sale of steel plant land. , He believes that even if this Rs 11,444 crore is spent on it, it will be of no use to the steel plant.
CITU leader CH Narasimha Rao said the Rs 11,444 crore announced by the central government is just an allowance and not a solution. He said that from the beginning they have been demanding that Vizag Steel Plant be allotted its mines and merged with SAIL. He said that if nothing is done without both of these, it will not be a permanent solution. The central and state governments are silent on both these issues. Also, VRS was introduced to create staff shortage, and if they want to protect Vizag Steel Plant, why are they continuing with VRS?
Report: Jagadishwar Rao Jarajapu, Hindustan Times Telugu
