The companies and ports in AP are on the verge of being privatized by the state government and the central government. While the Adani Group has already acquired the Major Port of Gangavaram, the Jagan government on the other hand has handed over the state-owned Ramayapatnam Port to the Aurobindo Group. The activities come at a time when the movement against the privatization of the Visakhapatnam steel plant is on in Visakhapatnam for more than 40 days. However, there is an ongoing debate on another issue related to the Visakhapatnam Steel Company. Speculations are rife that the Indian multinational conglomerate company ‘Adani Group’ is eyeing to take over the Vizag Steel Plant.
Vizag Steel Plant will be privatized
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has repeatedly stated in the Lok Sabha that the Visakhapatnam Steel Company will be privatized. Not just the MPs from AP, even though CM Jagan himself had written a letter, the Centre to date has not responded. Not just that, there is strong criticism over Centre not giving a positive response, whenever the AP CM had written a letter regarding issues being faced by the state. In this situation, even though the Union Finance Minister claims that the privatization of Visakhapatnam Steel will not stop at this juncture, the ongoing movement will continue.
Do Adani Group representatives visit the steel plant?
So far, there have been allegations that Visakhapatnam Steel is being privatized for POSCO. It is learned that the AP govt has also spoken to the POSCO company representatives in this regard. There are reports that the YSRCP government has proposed to give land to POSCO either in the Kadapa, Srikakulam or Nellore districts. On the other hand, the South Korean steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea is yet to give a clarification. Meanwhile, representatives of the Adani Group of Companies are rumoured to have visited the Visakhapatnam steel plant a week ago. Information is that discussions were held regarding the company status, performance of the equipment, steel production capacity, estimated production capacity and land availability.
In addition, the difficulties of privatization, labour rights, land ownership disputes, etc. seem to have come up for discussion. It seems that the Adani Group is unlikely to take up the matter with the state government in the case of Visakhapatnam Steel as of now, as the Centre already stated that the state government has not responded to the company.
Three in AP at the same time
The Adani Group acquired a 58.1 per cent stake of the DVS Raju family in the Gangavaram Port for a whopping Rs 3,604 crore. In addition to this, the AP government has given the green signal for the construction of a Data Centre, Business Park, Recreation Centre and Skill Development Centre in the Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone. It is learnt that the govt mulls allocating 500 acres of land for this purpose. Although this proposal was made during the last TDP regime, there were reports that the Adani group backed down after the formation of the YSRCP government. However, it seems that the Adani Group is ready to set up a fresh data centre in Visakhapatnam. As per reports, the Adani Group has also agreed to invest Rs 14,000 crore. So now, if the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is also acquired by the company, it can be assumed that Adani has taken over the coast of Visakhapatnam.
Silent on Vizag steel issue
The question that arises now is why the YSRCP ministers and people’s representatives are holding talks with the Adani Group regarding various projects when they are saying that they will not agree to privatize Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. Neither the company nor Visakhapatnam Steel officials have yet made any statement on the matter, following the visit by Adani Group officials.
