Damocles Sword Hanging Over RINL Staff Amidst Talk Of Imminent Closure

Visakhapatnam: The morale of the 13,000-odd workforce of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (SAIL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, is believed to have reached its lowest ebb following the latest developments and lukewarm response to their sustained demand for merger of the company with the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).

The talk on closure of the steel plant, attempts to weaken it reached a flashpoint with the September 12 development to shutdown the Blast Furnace-3 allowing only one BF to function, thereby curtailing the production for want of hot metal from 20,000 tonnes per day to 5,000 to 6,000 tonnes per day. Though the company is facing a working capital crunch for the past several months, coking coal availability is there and under the pretext of lack of buffer stock, the decision to shutdown BF-3 has fallen to cut ice with the employees’ unions.

In a posting on X, YSRCP general secretary and MP V Vijayasai Reddy came down heavily on Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and the BJP-led NDA government for the closure of BF-3, saying this has further given credence to the buzz that the steel plant, achieved after the sacrifice of 32 protesters in police firing, a ground is being prepared for closure, privatisation of RINL.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has cleared the proposal for 100 per cent privatisation of RINL, its subsidiaries and joint ventures in January, 2021. After Tata Steel evinced interest, Adani and Jindal Groups have also shown their willingness to acquire RINL with an eye on its huge land bank, technical knowhow and strategic location as India’s first shore-based integrated steel plant.

“The shutdown of BF-3 appears to be a deliberate attempt to further weaken the finances and strengthen the moves to privatise it on a golden platter,” Visakha Steel Employees’ Congress (VSEC) president Mantri Rajasekhar told Bizz Buzz.

According to Padi Trinadha Rao, a retired employee and a trade unionist, the company has a loan liability of around Rs 17,000 crore. It has been paying Rs 450 crore per quarter towards principal and Rs 160 crore per month as interest. If mandarins in the Ministry of Steel are keen, RINL could be granted a moratorium on payment of interest and principle for three years and a working capital of Rs 3,000 crore to put it back on a profitable path. He said scaling down production to a bare minimum will ultimately lead to closure of all the mills and the twin Steel Melt Shops putting a question mark over the future of one lakh families, who depend on RINL for their livelihood directly and indirectly.

Interestingly, the employees are waiting with bated breath for ‘breaking news’ to strengthen the RINL promised by the Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy and MoS in the same ministries, Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma, BJP MP from Bhimavaram (Andhra Pradesh), around a month ago. While emphatically ruling out privatisation of RINL, they had told the employees during their first visit to VSP after being sworn in as Ministers in Modi 3.0 that they would convince the government to make a positive decision to strengthen RINL by optimising its production.

However, during this one month, RINL’s financial health has further worsened with the unceremonious exit of Chairman-cum-Managing Director Atul Bhatt with the sanction of leave for the remaining period of his service i.e. November 30 and shutdown of BF-3 meting out a severe blow to the brand image of RINL, a mini ratna company.