CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat opposes Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited disinvestment

VISAKHAPATNAM: Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat said that his party opposes disinvestment of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited ( RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhpatnam Steel Plant since it is a profit-making enterprise in the steel sector.

During his visit to the city today, he visited various VSP workshops along with trade union leaders.

Later, addressing a meeting at Kancharapalem in the city, he said that the CPI(M) would urge the Centre to announce the devastation caused by the cyclone as a national calamity.

Visiting damaged houses in the locality, he said that the CPI(M) would strive towards getting relief compensation from the Andhra Pradesh government for those whose houses were damaged in the cyclone.

Meanwhile, the Steel Plant Employees' Union (SPEU) submitted a memorandum seeking his intervention to rescue VSP from losses incurred due to the cyclone.

The SPEU said that the cyclone had caused major damage to its machinery, sheeting and lighting structures as well as uprooted greenery in and around the plant.

Besides loss to fixed assets of the plant, SPEU said that the cyclone had resulted in production loss amounting to hundreds of crores of rupees, which is a major setback to the state-run steel plant.