Massive Rally by Salem Steel Plant Workers Against Move for Disinvestment

A massive rally of over a thousand people was conducted by a coalition of labour unions in the Salem Steel Plant against the proposed disinvestment plan. The rally which started from the second gate, a residential area, concluded in front of the main gate in the plant, and was participated by the family members of the workers, farmers who had given their land for the plant and different political party workers. Salem MP S R Parthipan of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had also participated in the rally.

Salem Steel Plant (SSP) is one of the three special steel units under the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) that is going to be disinvested by the central government. The companies were working at a loss of profit for the past five financial years. But the workers have been blaming the SAIL management for it and alleging that they can turn around the performance of the company with the government’s support.

From small kids to housewives to farmers, all the people who participated in the rally demanded the government to withdraw the decision to disinvest.

Also read: Disinvestment of Salem Steel Plant: Workers Accuse SAIL for Loss of Profit

The next stage of the protest will be to organise the public against the disinvestment move, said K P Suresh Kumar, the general secretary of the Steel Plant Employees’ Union, which is affiliated to the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU). “The plant was constructed on the land given by farmers. The entire area covers about 25 villages. Out of which 18 or 19 villages have vanished after the plant was built. The people who lost their land to the acquisition are also interested in the issue. They sacrificed their well cultivated land for this project. The major political parties have also extended their solidarity for the protest,” he said.

He alleged that they are not getting any support for the working capital by the management. “Each time, we have to beg for funds. They are not taking any interest in improving the inter-plant cooperation as well. For example, we can get materials from Rourkela plant with a subsidy if the management allows. Effectively the profit will be going to SAIL only and SSP can have benefit from this arrangement. But they don’t think like that.”

“The SAIL chairman has become a mouthpiece for the ruling party. All he is saying is that he cannot deny the government ruling, which is very pathetic. Being the head of the institution, he could have taken some initiation to solve the issue,” accused Suresh Kumar.

The disinvestment of three special steel units is the latest in the series of disinvestment moves by the NDA government. Though the centre had tried to disinvest the SSP in 2017, the plan was abandoned as no interested parties came forward. This time, major private players like Jindal are expected to participate in the bidding that is going to take place in the one month period.