CITU State (Andhra Pradesh) general secretary Ch. Narasinga Rao has refuted the statement issued by the Gangavaram Port management on August 8 that though there were delays in payments by Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), there were no delays in provision of cargo handling services by the port.
Addressing a media conference, in Visakhapatnam, on Tuesday, Mr. Rao also ridiculed the statements of the port management that the Adani Group has no interest in the privatisation of VSP. He said that the VSP had imported coking coal, worth ₹1,000 crore from the U.S. and Australia in July. Two of the vessels, which had arrived on July 16, should have been allotted berths at Gangavaram port, within 24 hours. “It was an open secret that they were not given berthing facilities till July 18,” he alleged.
The steel plant was giving the maximum profits to Gangavaram Port through its raw material imports. Though the port was in close proximity to the steel plant, the management was hiking the tariff by 5% every year. He demanded implementation of old tariff to reduce the burden on VSP.
The CITU leader alleged that POSCO steel of South Korea and the Adani Group have been making efforts to take over VSP from 2017 itself. During 2018, the then Steel Minister had tried to allocate 2,000 acres of VSP land to the port. He alleged that in 2019, during the COVID-19 pandemic, an online Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was made in this regard.
He said that the government had retracted its move after the CITU had made the issue public and had challenged the decision. He alleged that the government has intensified its efforts on handing over the land to the port after the Gangavaram Port was taken over by the Adani Group.
He also said that the Central government has failed to implement the wage revision agreement for Visakhapatnam Steel Plant workers and officials since Jan 1, 2017, while the wage revision was being implemented for workers of all other steel plants, and even their arrears were cleared a year ago.
Mr. Narasinga Rao said that though 4,000 employees and officers had retired from VSP during the past four years, not even a single new appointment was made. On the other hand, the Centre was wasting ₹1,800 crore on the rail wheel plant, and ₹1,000 crore on the Odisha Mining Corporation, though not even a single ton of ore was extracted, so far, he alleged.
U. Ramaswamy, Steel Plant Employees Union, R.K.S.V. Kumar, general secretary, and K.M. Srinivas, president, CITU district committee were present.
