Narendra Modi-led central government seems to be acting in a partisan manner against Visakhapatnam Steel, which stands as a symbol of the self-respect of Andhra Pradesh. Though the continuous struggle of the workers for years has become an obstacle to the central government’s resolve to privatize Visakhapatnam Steel, its efforts to bring division among them and bring force on them also failed.
Now, suspicions are being expressed that the central government is working to significantly reduce the number of staff. It is noteworthy that the answer given by the Union Minister of State for Steel, Bhaipathi Raju Srinivas Verma in Parliament recently also aggravates these fears.
In a written reply to a question asked by Rajya Sabha member Vikramjit Singh in the Parliament session held last month, Minister Srinivas Verma mentioned various matters to this extent. In his reply to a question regarding the details of staff in public sector enterprises and the filling of vacancies, the minister mentioned the status of various institutions.
However, the Union Minister, who mentioned rationalization in the case of Visakhapatnam Steel alone, said that 9,510 people would be sufficient to run the plant. He also said in the same reply that 13,460 people are currently on duty. This has raised concerns that the Central government is trying to reduce the number of staff.
The details of the staff sanctioned for Visakhapatnam Steel, the current staff, and the recruitments that have taken place were presented in the form of a table. Under that table, it was stated that a study was conducted for rationalization in the Visakhapatnam Steel Industry, and that the study showed that 9,510 workers (executive and non-executive) would be sufficient for the production of 7.3 million tonnes of steel.
He also explained that 2,561 executives and 6,949 non-executives would be sufficient. According to the figures given by the minister, there are currently 2,338 executives in the general category and 2,028 in others. There are 4,997 non-executives in the general category and 4,077 in others.
According to the minister’s answer, there will be cuts in both categories. He said that 19,795 staff have been sanctioned to Visakhapatnam Steel this year. If you compare this to this, it will be clear to anyone that thousands of posts are vacant. However, the minister showed the number of vacant posts as zero in his answer. This makes it clear that there will be no filling of posts this year. Along with that, there is concern that the existing staff will also be cut with the mention of rationalization.
