Latest news with #JAyodhyaRamu
Hans India
6 days ago
- Business
- Hans India
After a hiatus, BF-III of RINL buzzes back to life
Visakhapatnam; Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) is ready to operate Blast Furnace (BF)-III which was kept closed for a while. Secretary of Ministry of Steel Sandeep Poundrik is slated to recommence the operations of the BF-III at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) on June 27 (Friday). The Blast Furnace remained shut for the past 10 months due to inadequate supply of raw material. Even as the situation in terms of raw material is yet to see any signs of improvement in the plant, the recommencement of the BF-III is creating a sense of unrest among employees and trade union leaders. Earlier, when the BF-III was restarted, it had to be shut down again due to insufficient supply of raw material. When the Ministry of Steel Secretary visited the plant, he announced that the BF-III will be made operational again after ensuring that the raw material supply lasts for at least three months. According to reliable sources, the raw material is not going to last for more than 15 days now. In this backdrop, the employees wonder how all the three BFs in the VSP would continue to operate with limited resources. Sharing his view, Steel CITU honorary president J Ayodhya Ramu pointed out that the Centre and VSP management are keen on operating the plant with full capacity. 'However, they are not concerned about sorting out ground level challenges faced. It would be appreciable if the Steel Ministry comes up with a concrete solution to run all the three blast furnaces with full capacity in a sustained manner rather than recommencing the BF-III in a hurry,' he opined. In the meantime, a section of employees was given an opportunity to opt for VRS, while others are getting retired each month. Also, nearly 4,000 contract workers were removed from the organisation. 'The ones that were working were removed from the plant. Replacing them, the management is engaging inexperienced workers. This is a dangerous trend as there is a large scope for accidents to recur in the plant,' stressed Adi Narayana, chairman of Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata as the Centre announced a revival package of Rs.11,440 crore to the VSP, the emphasis is more on steering the plant towards a profitable growth. But safety of workers and the plant's sustainability remain grossly neglected.
Hans India
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
Union leaders condemn high handed behaviour of police
Visakhapatnam: Visakhapatnam Steel Plant CITU honorary president J Ayodhya Ramu condemned attitude of the police for denying permission to organise a protest under the aegis of Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee (VUPPC) and taking over the entire hunger strike camp under their control. Opposing the attitude of the city police here on Monday, the trade union leaders and employees continued their protest by sitting on the ground. Speaking on the occasion, Ayodhya Ramu warned that it was inappropriate to try to suppress the peaceful protests with the support of the police. He demanded that the pending salaries to the tune of Rs 300 crore of the workers should be paid immediately and full salaries should be paid on the first of every month. Union general secretary U Rama Swamy stated that while terminating the workers, the management and NDA government were spreading misinformation that there were more workers than required in the plant. The trade union leaders demanded that the removed workers should be reinstated with immediate effect. Chairman of the VUPPC D Adinarayana made it clear that as trade union they have long history in fighting for the rights of the people and workers. He warned that this is not appropriate for the government to seize the relay hunger strike camp this way. INTUC president Ramana Murthy demanded that the pending salaries of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant workers should be paid. 78th ward corporator Dr B Ganga Rao pointed out that the government has not withdrawn the decision to sell the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and he explained that there is a conspiracy to reduce the number of workers, reduce the debts of the plant before handing it over to a private company. Protest programmes were held in all district centres across the state as per the call given by the VUPPC, demanding that the problems of the steel plant workers should be resolved at the earliest and the illegally removed contract workers be reinstated. Contract Labour Union general secretary Nammi Ramana, CITU district president K M Srinivas, CITU president Y T Das, Steel CITU leader T V Krishnam Raju spoke onthe occasion.
Hans India
07-06-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Ukku agitators to donate blood to save VSP from privatisation
Visakhapatnam: Every employee should donate blood to protect Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) from getting privatised on June 14, called out Steel CITU honorary president J Ayodhya Ramu. Unveiling a poster for the blood donation camp here on Friday, Ayodhya Ramu mentioned that for the past 1,600 days, trade unions have been fighting against the 100 percent strategic sale of the VSP and appealing the Centre to change its decision on it. But the government is taking steps to privatise the plant, taking the lives of the workers for granted, he pointed out. It is time for the working class to unite and donate their blood and bring their prob-lems to the attention of the Central government, he mentioned that the recent financial package of Rs.11,440 crore given by the Centre was just an eye wash. The Steel CITU honorary president appealed to the employees and workers to participate in the blood donation camp and extend support to the agitation. Speaking on the occasion, blood donation camp organiser B Apparao explained, 'Through blood donation camps made in the past seven years, we have been able to meet the blood needs of several pa-tients.' He informed that the camp will be organised at Ambedkar Kalakshetram, Ukkunagaram (CWC-1) on the occasion of the World Blood Donation Day on June 14. Steel CITU president YT Das stated that steel workers have already been recognised for donating blood several times. Steel CITU leaders P Srinivasa Raju, K Gangadhar, V Prasad, VDV Poornachandra Rao, Srinivas and Suribabu were present.
