CPM Slams Naidu for ‘Undemocratic’ Threat to Invoke PD Act Against VSP Workers
He pointed out that while private companies like Mittal Steel were allotted mines even before commencing operations, the public-sector Visakhapatnam Steel Plant continued to be denied the same benefit.
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2025-11-16 16:24 GMT
Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh unit of the CPM strongly criticised Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for allegedly threatening Visakhapatnam Steel Plant workers with action under the PD Act. CPM state secretary V. Srinivasa Rao said the Chief Minister’s remarks against the struggling workers were unacceptable and exposed what he called the government’s pro-corporate bias.
Srinivasa Rao said linking workers’ wages to production, as stipulated in a recent management circular, had deepened insecurity among employees. Instead of addressing core issues such as lack of captive mines and policy failures, the government was unfairly blaming workers for the plant’s losses, he added.
He pointed out that while private companies like Mittal Steel were allotted mines even before commencing operations, the public-sector Visakhapatnam Steel Plant continued to be denied the same benefit.
Rao recalled that the TD had once supported the steel workers’ agitation while in opposition, but the Chief Minister’s present stance was in stark contrast. Describing the threat to invoke the PD Act as “undemocratic and condemnable,” the CPM leader said the government must protect workers’ constitutional rights instead of vilifying them.