Visakhapatnam: The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday decided to pass a resolution in the state Assembly against privatisation of the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. The resolution will be introduced in the budget session of the Assembly after the municipal elections.
Minister for transport and information, Perni Venkataramaiah Nani said in his media briefing after the cabinet meeting that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy visited Visakhapatnam and held lengthy discussions with trade union representatives and mass organisations on the privatization move.
The Chief Minister told them that he had already written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explore alternatives to the privatization and keep the steel plant in the public sector in the interest of the people of Andhra Pradesh. An MPs’ team was also sent to New Delhi to meet Central leaders and apprise them of the situation, he said.
“Keeping these in view, the Cabinet has decided to pass a resolution in the assembly in the budget session,’’ Perni Nani said.
Tourism minister Muttamsetti Srinivas Rao said the cabinet discussed in detail about the privatization of the steel plant and decided to send the resolution to the central government.
The Assembly resolution would give strength to the ongoing agitation against the privatization, he said.
Welcoming the resolution, state CITU president Ch Narsinga Rao, currently attending a national level office-bearers’ meeting in New Delhi, said the resolution should be concrete and resist the bidding of RINL.
“A mere general resolution will not be effective,’’ he felt and added that it would pep up the agitation and more organisations would join the movement against the privatization. Rao said national-level trade union leaders would visit Visakhapatnam in March and participate in the agitation.
