JAC marks 2,000 days of protest against Vizag steel plant privatisation

You don’t have any Active Subscription.

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

All-party workers’ and people’s organisations’ JAC raise slogans during a protest marking 2,000 days of their joint agitation against the proposed privatisation of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, at the Gandhi statue near the GVMC office on Sunday. | Photo Credit: V RAJU

The all-party workers’ and people’s organisations’ Joint Action Committee (JAC) opposing privatisation of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant marked 2,000 days of its protest at the Gandhi statue near the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) office in the city on Sunday.

JAC leaders said workers and people were prepared for further struggles to protect the steel plant and called for intensified protests. They said the protest were launched on April 2, 2021, in solidarity with the workers’ protests at Kurmannapalem and continued during COVID-19.

JAC chairman M. Jaggu Naidu, vice-chairman B. Nagabhushanam and other leaders demanded that the plant be allocated captive mines or merged with the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). They also demanded the reinstatement of contract workers and that the plant be operated at full capacity.

The leaders alleged that 6,000 contract workers had been removed from service and about 2,000 employees had opted for voluntary retirement. They also alleged that the ₹11,400-crore package announced for the plant had not been used for its development, workers’ salaries, equipment repairs or raw materials.

The JAC demanded that the plant’s land not be allotted to other organisations.

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.