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

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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.

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