Vizag Steel Plant: On the eve of the festival, employees of Vizag Steel Plant have not received salaries for five months.

Vizag Steel Plant: On the eve of the festival, employees of Vizag Steel Plant have not received salaries for five months.

Vizag Steelplant has 9,460 permanent officers and employees and 12,000 contract employees. They have not been paid for the last few months. 50 percent in September, 25 percent in October, 25 percent in November and 35 percent in December. Contract employees are not being paid full salary for last four-five months. Hera, LTC, LLTC, Dussehra and Diwali bonuses have been completely discontinued. There is no pay revision.

To increase conspiracies..

The ownership has conspired to harass the workers. It is ready to pull the workers. RINL has given notification to implement VRS scheme. In that notification, it is clarified that those who are 45 years of age and have completed 15 years of service should apply for VRS. The management is preparing to evict one thousand people by March 2025. For the last five years, 1,000 to 1,100 employees have been retiring every year. CITU leader KM Srinivas said that no appointment is being made in Waristhan. He criticized that a conspiracy was being hatched through measures like salary cuts and wage cuts of employees.

Forced VRS.

On the other hand, they are forcibly sent to VRS. Employees are upset due to not receiving salaries for five months. Steel workers in Visakhapatnam demonstrated naked demanding payment of pending salaries. Employees are saying how to celebrate if there is no salary. The reason for this unfortunate situation is being blamed on the NDA at the Center and the coalition government of the state.

action for privatization

The Central Government is intent on privatizing the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited-RINL). The Union Cabinet has already approved it and is taking action. As a part of the same, each part of the steel plant is set to be privatised. Following the announcement of 100% disinvestment in Vizag Steelplant, individual steps were taken.

With the struggle of the workers..

It has already prepared to redeploy around 2,000 workers to its Nagarnar steel plant in Chhattisgarh. It also conspired to fire 4,200 steel plant contract workers by denying them entry and exit passes. Ownership retreated due to workers’ struggles. The blast furnace was also stopped. The oxygen plant was closed. Then the worker’s concerns took a back seat. Due to such conspiracies, the management and the central government have taken steps to influence the production of Vizag Steel Plant.

Responsibilities of fire station

Recently, the sector is preparing to privatize a unit of the steel plant. It has been decided to hand over the responsibility of operating the fire station of the steel plant to private companies. Vizag Steel Ownership has invited applications for Expression of Interest (EOI) in this regard. RMHP of Steel Plant, Sinter Plant, Coke Oven, Steel Melt Shop, Blast Furnace, Rolling Mills, Air Separation Plant, CRMP, Thermal Power Plant, LPG Storage Tank, Water Management Department, Gas Holders, Energy Management Department, Electrical in Steel Plant. Distribution networks and other important departments provide services like fire stations.

Now assurance..now silence..

Chief Minister Chandrababu had promised during the election campaign that he would not privatize the Vizag Steel Plant. But now if everyone has personal money then at least there is no reaction. Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan also promised to support. But the steel plant employees are expressing their anger over his silence. Local MPs are not giving any reaction on the privatization of Bharat Steel Plant. At the same time, the workers are also criticizing Rammohan Naidu, who used to seek online complaints while in the opposition and after becoming the Union Minister, he does not care about the steel plant at all.

(Reporting by Jagadeeswara Rao Jarajapu, Hindustan Times Telugu)

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