Say plans afoot to revive Vizag Steel Plant
In a significant announcement both the centre and state government have come out strongly denying the privatisation of Vizag Steel Plant.
The Union Minister of Steel and Heavy Industries, Mr HD Kumaraswamy along with the Minister of state for Steel & Heavy Industries Mr Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma recently visited Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and assured all support to the plant. Marking his maiden visit to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant Mr Kumaraswamy went around the plant and showed keen interest in the steel making process at RINL.
Addressing the representatives of trade unions, the Union Minister said that the RINL family should not panic about the closure of the plant. Mr Kumaraswamy said that with the blessings and support of the Prime Minister, RINL’s production will reach 100% capacity of the plant permanently.
During the plant visit, Mr Kumaraswamy, Union Minister for Steel & Heavy Industries expressed that after visiting Visakha- patnam Steel Plant, he felt that RINL will help in improving India’s GDP.
Also addressing the gathering, Mr Srinivasa Varma, Minister of State for Steel and Heavy Industries lauded Mr Kumaraswaamy’s visit to the steel plant and said that it is the luck of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and people of Andhra Pradesh that he is taking keen interest in RINL ever since he assumed charge as Union Steel Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries. ‘This speaks volumes of his concern for RINL, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant’ said Mr Varma.
In their time spent at VSP both ministers along with other officials visited the Model room in ED (Works) building where Mr Atul Bhatt, CMD RINL explained about the process and salient features of Visakhapatnam steel plant.
Later the Ministers visited RINL’s award gallery and congratulated RINL for bagging several prestigious National and International awards.
They also visited the Coke Ovens department, blast furnace-3, steel melting shop-2 and Wire rod mill 2 and later, they reviewed the performance of RINL with CMD, Directors, Chief vigilance officer and senior officials of RINL at CMD’s board room in the main administration building.
The Representatives of Steel Executives association (SEA) along with representatives of various trade unions also interacted with the Ministers in the Boardroom. Similarly Andhra Pradesh’s chief minister, Mr Nara Chandrababu Naidu who was also present in the city on the same day at a different event reiterated its party’s stance of being against privatisation of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.