Leaders of student and youth organisations in the State have urged various organisations to extend their support to the ‘KG-to-PG’ bandh call given by them on November 8 in support of their demand for establishment of the Kadapa steel plant and to protect the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP).
Speaking after releasing a wall poster on the proposed bandh of educational institutions on November 8, coinciding with the completion of 1,000 days of the anti-privatisation protest by VSP employees and trade unions, they said both projects were crucial for development of the State.
They said the ₹8,800-crore steel plant at Sunnapurallapalli in Kadapa district had been a dream for the people of the backward and drought-prone region, and once implemented, it would boost industrial growth in this part of the State.
They said the state-of-the-art steel plant, with a capacity of up to 3 million tonne per annum (MTPA), that produces high-grade steel products, leveraging its connectivity by road, rail, sea and air, proximity to raw material sources and access to major auto and industrial hubs, would drive growth in the region by providing large-scale direct and indirect employment opportunities.
The student leaders slammed the BJP government at the Centre for its “sinister plans” to privatise the VSP.
Student Federation of India’s NTR district secretary Ch. Venkateswara Rao said the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant was the pride of Andhra Pradesh, as it was the biggest and most prominent public sector industry in the State.
All-India Student Federation NTR district president M. Sai Kumar said though trade unions and other organisations had been opposing the privatisation plan, the YSR Congress Party and the Opposition TDP failed to raise their voice against the BJP government at the Centre.
The Centre could have been forced to retract from the strategic sale of RINL, the corporate entity of VSP, had these parties genuinely made efforts to challenge the decision, he said.
Progressive Democratic Student Union’s NTR district president I. Rajesh accused the Centre of going back on its promise to create two-crore jobs annually.
“Instead, the Centre has set on the job of privatising public sector units and it is our responsibility to save these institutions in the larger interest of the people,” he said.
