Visakhapatnam: Expressing solidarity with agitating contract workers of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant who were terminated, the Human Rights Forum (HRF) demanded reinstating all the 3,000 of them with immediate effect.

HRF AP state president KV Jagannadha Rao and HRF AP and TG coordination committee member VS Krishna emphasised that the management must abandon attempts to terminate a further 1,800 contract workers. “We condemn the management’s use of police to intimidate workers instead of engaging in dialogue and seeking democratic resolution of issues raised by them. Resorting to fear tactics instead of negotiation, particularly when production at the plant is being affected, is unacceptable,” they stressed.

Contract workers are the backbone of daily operations at the plant but they continue to be denied basic rights, job security and dignity at the workplace. Their persistent demands for regularisation and fair wages remain to be unmet, the HRF representatives expressed concern.

The Central government is orchestrating a systematic conspiracy to privatise the steel plant by granting Rs.11,440 crore package, waiving GST and other dues and making the plant lucrative for the private players, Jagannadha Rao and Krishna stated. “We condemn this attempt to hand over a precious industrial asset built on the sacrifice of 32 lives and voluntary land donation by people belonging to 69 villages to corporate interests on a platter,” they said. In the 40-year history of the VSP, such intimidation tactics and huge police deployment were never witnessed. The suspension of protesting workers and the issuance of show-cause notices, the HRF representatives said, were in direct violation of the Industrial Disputes Act of 1948.

HRF calls for immediate stoppage of punitive actions by the management and a democratic and peaceful resolution of grievances of employees and contract workers at the VSP and attempts to privatise the steel plant are halted.