Protest Against Privatisation Of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant To Be Held Today, Several Leaders To Take Part

The protest will be attended by leaders and people's representatives from all political parties

The Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee (VUPPC) has called on the people from all sectors to take part in the ‘Visakha Ukku Praja Garjana’ protest which will be held at the Trishna Grounds at Ukkunagaram at 3 PM on Monday. The VUPPC is protesting against the privatisation of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.

The VUPPC leaders remembered how the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) was established after the sacrifice of 32 people who gave their lives for the plant. The ‘Visakha Ukku Praja Garjana’ was planned as a powerful reminder to the Center that the city's residents would fight tooth and nail against its intention to strategically sell the facility, said VUPPC leaders.

The leaders and people's representatives from all political parties are expected to take part in the protest. The leaders from ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Jana Sena Party (JSP), Congress, CPI, CPI(M), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Republican Party of India (RPI), and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to take part in protest.

The Vishakapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), founded in 1982 and operated by the corporate entity Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), is one of India's major public sector steel plants.

Earlier, Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh's Bapatla, GVL Narasimha Rao, met Union Minister for Steel Jyotiraditya Scindia and sought the Centre's intervention to ensure the smooth functioning of RINL in Visakhapatnam.

During his meeting, the MP also submitted a letter to the union minister highlighting the issues at RINL. In the letter, MP Narasimha Rao mentioned that the steel plant did not have adequate working materials, adverse market conditions, and the lack of captive iron ore mines and highly-priced raw materials were the main factors that affected the functioning of the steel plant in Visakhapatnam. 

(With inputs from ABP Desam — It is a Telugu platform of ABP News. For more news, commentary and latest happenings from two Telugu states, follow https://telugu.abplive.com//amp)