The AP unit of the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has urged the Centre to declare a tax holiday for the public sector units in the city such as Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, the HPCL refinery, Hindusthan Shipyard and the Visakhapatnam port to enable them to revive operations at the earliest.

At a press conference here on Sunday, CITU state vice-president, Ch. Narasinga Rao, said the CPSUs had suffered an irreparable loss due to loss of production since October 12 and damage was caused to expensive machinery. It would take a long time for the industries to achieve normal production.

He said, "In view of heavy loss suffered by RINL, HPCL, BHEL, HSL and other industries, we appeal to the Centre to declare a tax holiday and give other incentives to the industries to revive their units."

He said the RINL-Visakhapatnam steel plant had been suffering a production loss of Rs 40 crore per day and he blamed the management for not taking timely measures to shut down production following warnings issued by the Cyclone Warning Centre. He said most of the industries had shut down their operations only after tripping caused by cyclone Hudhud. He also accused the RINL authorities of hiding the losses caused by the cyclone, as the PSU was set to offload 10 per cent of its equity.

He also found fault with the authorities for forcing industrial workers to forego one day's wage to contribute to Chief Minister's Cyclone Relief Fund. "It is not fair on their part to burden the workers at a time when workers themselves suffered heavy damage to their houses/furniture in the aftermath of the cyclone. It should be purely voluntary," he added.

>sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in

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