The Hindu Business Line : Vizag unions stage demonstration, seek captive iron ore mines

The unions in the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), which is the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, staged a demonstration here on Monday in front of the district collector’s office, seeking allotment of captive iron ore mines to the plant, as it is facing a crisis in the present recession period.

The union workers, led by the recognised union and the Steel Progressive Front, took out a scooter rally from the steel plant to the collector’s office in the city and staged a demonstration. Mr N. Rama Rao, General Secretary of the recognised union (the Visakha Steel Workers’ Union), said it was the long pending demand of the plant authorities, the unions as well as the State Government, seeking captive iron ore mines to the plant.

Crisis

The plant was passing through a crisis, as it was not able to liquidate the stocks, amounting to 7-8 lakh tonnes at present, due to poor offtake caused by economic recession. In spite of cutting down prices twice in recent times, to a level of Rs 35,000-40,000 a tonne, RINL was still not able to sell the steel.

“Captive iron ore mines at such a critical juncture would have been very handy for RINL. Due to the lack of captive mines, the production cost a tonne of steel is going up by Rs 5,000 at least. It is proving to be crippling for the plant,” he explained.

He said the unions had met the Prime Minister, the Union Steel Minister and others several times and submitted petitions seeking captive mines for RINL, but to no avail. He urged the State to exert pressure on the Union Government on the issue and rescue the plant.

Mr Ch. Narasinga Rao, District President of the CPI (M), said it was really unfortunate that the public sector RINL, now doubling its capacity from 3 million tonnes, was being starved of captive iron ore mines, while private companies such as Posco in Orissa and Brahmani Steel in Andhra Pradesh, were facing no such problems. Captive iron ore mines, he said, were absolutely crucial for further expansion of the capacity of RINL and that workers as well as the general public should agitate for them.

Mr V.V. Rama Rao, All-India Trade Union Congress leader, and several others spoke in the same tenor, condemning “the indifferent attitude of the Government”.

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