Visakhapatnam: Senior trade union leaders spearheading the movement against privatisation of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) strongly pleaded with the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINLO management not to allow private companies and some Ponzi firms to bid for the steel maker or supply raw materials.
“We have found out that six Ponzi companies have filed papers expressing interest to finance the steel plant. They should not be encouraged. So also some private companies like JSW and JSPL may exploit RINL,’’ said J. Ayodhyaramu, senior CITU leader and one of the chairpersons of Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee.
Talking to this correspondent, Ayodhyaramu said priority should be given to public sector undertakings like SAIL and NMDC as both come under the steel ministry, in the bidding. Otherwise, the focus should be on Singareni Collieries Company Limited or Telangana or the AP government, which can bid through the state mineral development corporations, he said.
“The AP government needs steel for massive housing projects they have lined up and irrigation projects and roads,’’ the CITU leader said.
If these two options were not viable, then RINL should opt for foreign companies, which might give the company more value for the high class steel that it produces, Ayodhyaramu said.
Another RINL trade union leader Varasala Srinivasa Rao said Andhra Pradesh can bid for funding RINL as it has a coking coal mine in Jharkhand.
In addition to trade union leaders, many people were objecting to the entry of ponzi and private companies that were trying to take advantage of the RINL situation.
Sources said many eyebrows were raised when former CBI official V.V. Lakshminarayana filed EOI on behalf of Vijaywada-based Vensera Impex that had dealt with fly ash before its closure. Many wondered why go for a small and closed company?
Crowd funding can be sought through some other means or any other recognized agency.
“It is insane. Trade union leaders and employees are agitating for the last 800 days to keep the factory in the public sector. Now some Ponzi and unknown companies are bidding,’’ said a former teacher from Andhra University.
