All the trade unions and left parties are opposing the proposal to set up a steel plant by POSCO in a joint venture with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) leader Mantri Rajasekhar said on Thursday all trade unions were opposing the proposal. He said the steel plant, launched with 1.7 million tonnes capacity, was later expanded to 7.3 million tonnes without any financial support from the Centre. He said it will be mutually beneficial if a steel plant was set up by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) in partnership with the public sector undertakings National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) or Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), which have captive iron ore mines.
Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) State president Ch Narasinga Rao said the Centre was planning to sanction land worth Rs 45,000 crores to the South Korean giant on a platter. He demanded the State government to clarify its stand on the POSCO proposal. He said no private steel plant has been set up in the past 10 years.
Communist Party of India (CPI) State joint secretary JV Satyanarayana Murthy said POSCO will hardly invest Rs 5,000 crores in the project. He said POSCO will be given 2,768 acres for setting up a fully automated plant. There will not be any high employment generation. The entry of POSCO in the sector will halt the expansion of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant in the future, he said. A total bandh was observed in Gajuwaka recently and indicating the people’s opposition to the proposal, he said. POSCO had earlier made attempts to locate steel plants in Odisha and West Bengal in 2005 and 2008, respectively.
