Opinion: Vizag gets steel, Telangana gets scrap
The Centre's decision to liquidate Adilabad Cement Corporation of India plant while reviving Vizag Steel exposes a stark regional disparity and discrimination against Telangana’s industrial growth
By Dr Arroju Srinivas
The Centre’s decision to scrap and liquidate the Cement Corporation of India (CCI) unit in undivided Adilabad is a devastating blow to the industrial heartbeat of Telangana’s most backward tribal pocket.
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By issuing tenders through the Ministry of Heavy Industries to auction off plant machinery for a mere Rs 50 crore, the government is permanently burying the region’s socio-economic future. It is an unforgivable betrayal by political forces who shamelessly used the factory’s revival as bait for votes, only to wash their hands of it post-election.
The decision effectively values the survival and future of thousands of dependent families at the price of iron scrap while turning a blind eye to massive natural reserves. It is a stark testament to the central government’s short-sighted economic philosophy.
A Beacon of Progress Reduced to Silence
When the plant commenced operations in 1984 with a production capacity of 1,200 tonnes per day, it triggered an industrial revolution in a remote pocket like Adilabad. Providing direct and indirect employment to nearly 4,000 people, it sustained an entire generation. However, the fallout of the 1990s economic reforms, coupled with the apathy of successive central governments, forced the factory’s sirens to fall silent in November 1998.
Since then, workers and displaced families have spared no effort, launching endless agitations to secure both their livelihood and the factory’s reopening. Even after knocking on the doors of the High Court, the workers were left empty-handed due to technical legalities. It is profoundly tragic that by May 2026, the Centre accelerated its moves to permanently bury this industry.
The Myth of Non-Viability
A critical examination of the government’s arguments reveals a stark lack of political will. The Centre’s official narrative is that the plant is deeply in the red and requires an investment of nearly Rs 2,000 crore for modernisation. It is merely a smokescreen to justify privatisation and eventual liquidation.
In reality, the plant owns 2,340 acres of prime government land.
More importantly, recent geological surveys indicate that the surrounding areas of Tamsi and Guda-Rampur hold high-grade limestone reserves estimated at between 48 million and 77 million tonnes.
Scrapping Cement Corporation of India plant is not merely an industrial closure; it is an assault on the region’s economic dignity and a blow to the foundations of local self-reliance
The tale of two policies: While the Centre showers financial packages on Andhra Pradesh’s Vizag Steel Plant, it serves scrap tenders to Adilabad’s CCI. This dual standard is a textbook case of regional bias.
Clear Case of Regional Disparity
The Centre’s double standard becomes glaringly obvious when compared to its approach toward neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. To rescue Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), popularly known as the Vizag Steel Plant, which was on the brink of privatisation due to mounting losses, the Centre stepped in with massive direct financial assistance through two major relief packages totalling Rs 21,177 crore.
In January 2025, the Ministries of Steel and Finance jointly infused a massive Rs 11,440 crore revival package. This included a direct equity capital infusion of Rs 10,300 crore, while the remaining Rs 1,140 crore debt was converted into preference shares to ease the plant’s liability burden. Between April and May 2026, the Finance Ministry approved an additional Rs 8,097 crore package for daily working capital and urgent repairs to its coke oven batteries.
This is in addition to an earlier interim relief of Rs 1,640 crore. Bolstered by this massive central funding, the Vizag Steel Plant successfully restarted its defunct blast furnaces, ramped up its operational capacity to 93%, and turned its cash losses into profits.
Why does the central leadership, which breathed fresh life into Vizag Steel, see nothing more than Rs 50 crore worth of scrap in the Adilabad CCI plant? If the Centre can rescue Vizag Steel, it must demonstrate the same political sincerity and announce a similar revival package for Adilabad. Selling out a plant rich in mineral wealth that can be completely rejuvenated with a Rs 2,000 crore investment is the pinnacle of the Centre’s bias against Telangana.
Balanced Regional Development
Long-term national progress is achievable only through balanced regional development. Decentralising industries to rural and backward regions is not just about job creation; it is vital for effective environmental management and the sustainable utilisation of natural resources. It lays the groundwork for steady state and national growth.
Given that the location already possesses abundant mineral reserves, ready railway connectivity, and an established township infrastructure, setting up a modern mega cement hub would be an effortless task for the central government.
Compared to the massive subsidies governments routinely hand out to corporate houses, investing Rs 2,000 crore to uplift a backward region is a negligible burden. If governments operate solely on the ledger of profit and loss, the very concept of public welfare loses its meaning.
Call for Action from State
The Telangana government cannot afford to restrict its protest to mere letter-writing if it wants to force the Centre’s hand. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Industries Minister Sridhar Babu must wage a determined, full-scale battle to ensure these scrap tenders are halted immediately.
Should the Centre refuse to back down, the State government must step in independently. It should explore alternative avenues to restart the factory, perhaps by offering a financial stake or partnership, thereby mounting immense pressure on New Delhi.
Industrialisation cannot be confined to building IT towers around Hyderabad; it must involve leveraging resources in remote districts to provide sustenance to the local population. A State prospers only when regional growth is equitable. Reducing the Adilabad CCI plant to scrap is an assault on the economic self-respect of the region and a direct blow to local self-reliance. It is akin to severing the roots of a regional economy.
The central government must shed its partisan approach immediately. It must announce a financial package to revive the Adilabad CCI plant on a par with the Vizag Steel Plant. By doing so, it can generate employment for the youth of the backward Adilabad district and deliver justice to Telangana.
Failing this, the simmering anger of the local tribal youth who have been denied a livelihood will inevitably push the undivided Adilabad district back onto the path of intense agitations.
(The author is president, Telangana Adhyana Samalochana Kendram [TASK])
