VSP, an icon of Telugu pride, caught in a political storm

Hyderabad: Visakha steel, stood as an icon of the culmination of the movement with the slogan 'Visakha Ukku-Andhrula Hakku' (Visakha Steel is Andhraites' Right) and a symbol of Telugu pride, is caught in a political storm now.

After Centre proposed 100 per cent disinvestment, initially the Andhra Pradesh state government had demanded it to desist from the privatisation of the VSP and asserted that it would participate in the bidding to take back the VSP assets. With no sign of it walking the talk, the heat generated around Save VSP has soon died down. When asked about VSP, a top official from the AP industries department told The Hans India that the state government is bothered only about Kadapa steel plant and not VSP.

Against this backdrop, the Telangana state government's reported move to bid for the steel plant through public sector undertaking Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has gained a debate in both the Telugu states, and the reported move is being welcomed from several quarters in AP.

On political side, Telangana municipal administration and urban development minister K T Rama Rao said that the government was exploring the possibility of bidding for Rs 5,000 crore notified by the VSP. He accused the Centre of trying to hand over VSP to Adanis. He said that the Centre has also failed to fulfil its promise of setting up steel plant at Bayyaram.

Meanwhile, experts say that even if the VSP was privatised and TS government bids for it, the iron ore mines in Bayyaram would not meet the requirement of VSP as far as product manufacturing portfolio was concerned. VSP cannot depend on these mines as its quality is not fit for VSP production activities. According to the Telangana mines department, the Geological Survey of India's report claims that the estimated iron ore reserves with the required cut-off in Bayyaram were about 10.80 million tonnes while 200 million tonnes is required as per the guidelines of Steel Authority of India (SAIL). This was why Bayyaram steel plant issue has been hanging fire. This being the situation, Bayyaram iron ore cannot be of use to VSP, experts argue.