Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national spokesman K. Pattabhi Ram held Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy responsible for the sordid state of affairs in the erstwhile Gangavaram port and Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP).
The Gangavaram port was in dire straits due to the negligence of the State government and as its operations allegedly came to a standstill, the coking coal supply to VSP was disrupted, he alleged. The consequence was a drastic fall in steel production.
VSP used to pay a cargo handling charge of ₹270 per ton when the Gangavaram port was owned by DVS Raju Consortium and it went up to ₹350 after the port was sold off to the Adani Group, Mr. Pattabhi Ram said.
Addressing a press conference at the TDP office on Sunday, Mr. Pattabhi Ram said the daily steel output at the VSP was between 14,000 tons and 15,000 tons previously but it came down to about 4,000 tons. Only one of the three blast furnaces were operational now, he added.
The Gangavaram port was sold to Adani Group for commissions and the State government had thereafter completely neglected it. The demand of workers, on whose lands the Gangavaram port was built, for higher wages and other benefits that were legitimately due to them were deliberately overlooked, the TDP national spokesman alleged.
This port was making good profits in the past but it was now on the brink of closure due to a host of factors. The YSR Congress Party government was to be largely blamed for it, Mr. Pattabhi Ram alleged.
