The Hindu Business Line : Intelligentsia for expansion of Vizag Steel Plant capacity

A CONVENTION of intellectuals, political leaders, and social activists from the coastal districts has urged the Union Government to take immediate steps to enhance the capacity of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant in phases from the present 3.2 million tonnes to 5 million tonnes and later on to 10 mt.

Releasing the resolutions passed at the convention on Sunday, the former Rajya Sabha member and convenor, Dr Y. Sivaji, said at a press meet here on Monday that the steel plant had been sanctioned by the Union Government after a long struggle and at one stage, it had almost become sick and was on the verge of being referred to the BIFR. But, thanks to the upsurge in the steel market, it had turned around and "now is the time to expand the capacity," he said.

Further, he said, the participants also felt the need for encouraging ancillarisation and setting up of small units based on VSP to generate employment in the neglected north-coastal districts.

Condemning "the persistent and motivated attack on coastal districts'' by the Telangana leaders, Dr Sivaji said that the nine coastal districts had been meted out a raw deal during the past 50 years. "There is absolutely no truth in the propaganda that the coastal people are being favoured at the expense of Telangana. In fact, it is the other way round,'' he said.

In another resolution, he said, the convention also wanted the Union Government to set up a separate rail zone at Visakhapatnam.

He said the convention had passed another resolution urging the State Government to focus on development of coastal towns such as Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Rajahmundry, Kakinada and Nellore.

"Neglecting these towns all these years, the Government has developed Hyderabad. Andhra Pradesh does not mean Hyderabad alone,'' he said.

Answering a query whether the convention held here on Sunday and the earlier one in Vijayawada in August were a prelude to raising the demand for a separate state of Andhra, Dr Sivaji, however, denied there were any such political motives.

``We want an integrated Andhra Pradesh with balanced development of all three regions. It is the Telangana Rashtra Samathi which is demanding a separate state. The TRS leaders are blaming the coastal districts for the backwardness of that region, which is totally false. We have no choice but to rebut it,'' he said.

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