Visakhapatnam Steel Plant: Centre clarifies that disinvestment is under progress

Singh had said that there was no attempt on part of the Centre, as of now, to go for privatization of the VSP and instead, efforts would be made to sort out issues related to mining for the plant and to strengthen the plant to run on its own.

Hyderabad: A day after Union Minister of State for Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste made contradictory statements on the disinvestment of the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), also known as the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, the Union Ministry of Steel on Friday said there was no freeze on the disinvestment process.

In a statement issued via the Press Information Bureau, the Ministry of Steel said the disinvestment process of RINL ‘was under progress’ and that ‘efforts were being made by the company and supported by the Government’ to improve the performance of RINL and keep it as a ‘going concern’.

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Interestingly, the Ministry attributed the ‘hold’ on the disinvestment process to ‘some media reports’, and did not mention that it was a statement from Faggan Singh at Visakhapatnam.

Singh had said that there was no attempt on part of the Centre, as of now, to go for privatization of the VSP and instead, efforts would be made to sort out issues related to mining for the plant and to strengthen the plant to run on its own.

“There is no wish, as on today, or attempt, to go ahead with the disinvestment of RINL. We have better plans for the future of RINL. Whatever problems were there related to mining, we are sorting it out to strengthen RINL and let it run on its own,” he had told the media on the sidelines of a Rozgar Mela in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.

However, later in the day, during an interaction with union leaders of the VSP, Singh did a volte-face saying that a decision on the strategic disinvestment of RINL was not in his purview as it was a Cabinet decision, thus triggering confusion on the Centre’s actual plans.