The Hindu Business Line : Three major Vizag PSUs suffer neglect

Visakhapatnam, April 1 The troubles of three major public sector units here – the Visakhapatnam steel plant, the Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels Ltd (BHPV) and the Hindusthan Shipyard Ltd – suffering the economic slowdown have been accentuated by unfulfilled promises.

Captive mines

The Congress Party, leading the UPA Government, made three promises during the 2004 general elections – to secure captive iron ore mines for the Visakhapatnam steel plant and to revive BHPV and Hindusthan Shipyard (HSL). There has been really no change for the better in the fortunes of the three PSUs since then. BHPV was merged with BHEL, but its position is no better than what was prior to the merger. No headway has been made on the other two promises.

Captive iron ore mines continue to elude the Visakhapatnam steel plant, in spite of the repeated promises of the leaders , and it is proving to be costly for the plant, as it has to incur at least an additional Rs 1,000-1,500 for every tonne of steel produced. The plant is unable to cut down on production cost for this reason and the extra burden is proving to be crippling.

Various proposals have been floated from time to time during the past five years such as merging RINL and the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) to solve the most critical problem faced by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, but nothing has been done.

BHPV has been merged with BHEL and made a subsidiary of the latter, but the problems of the unit are far from over.

It was promised at the time of the merger that BHEL would invest on the modernisation of the machinery, get more orders for the unit and enable it to execute the orders on time. But nothing substantial has been done on these counts. The workers are deeply dissatisfied as the wage revision is being postponed indefinitely.

HSL issue unresolved

The Government had decided that the solution to the problems faced by Hindusthan Shipyard lies in bringing it under the control of the Union Ministry of Defence. But for reasons that are not clear, implementation of the decision has been delayed for more than five years. HSL, the oldest shipyard, is struggling for survival.

The promise of protecting and reviving the PSUs is being parroted again by all political parties as the general elections approach later this month.

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