Vijayawada: Union minister of state for heavy industries and steel Bhupatiraju Srinivasa Varma made it clear that he was committed to protect the Vizag steel plant (VSP) and there is no question of merging it with Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).

The Union minister said he is committed to the welfare of the Vizag steel plant employees. He responded to the allegations that the VSP will be privatised and would be handed over to the corporate groups.

Addressing media in Bhimavaram on Thursday, the Central minister said the Union government sanctioned package of Rs 11,440 crore to the steel plant to save it. He said Rs 10,300 crore was allocated as capital share and Rs 1,140 crore as the working capital.

“Vizag steel plant is related to the sentiment of the people of Andhra Pradesh. The package was announced to save the plant from privatisation. This is the biggest package ever sanctioned in AP to protect an industry,” he said.

Srinivasa Varma said pressure was exerted on the Union government for the package and he is proud of it. He said only Rs 230 crore towards salaries of November and December is pending and assured that the dues would be released to employees very soon.

The minister said the steel plant has loans of Rs 30,000 crore and the Central government has announced package of Rs 13,000 crore. He refuted the allegations of the opposition parties that steel plant would be privatised. He said Union steel minister H D Kumara Swamy had announced that one more package will be given to Vizag steel plant.

He once again made it clear that steel plant would not be merged with SAIL and the plant will be brought into the path of profits by operating at full capacity by August this year. He dismissed the argument lack of captive mines is source of problems for the steel plant, saying there was a time when VSP earned profits even though it has no captive mines and many successfully running steel industries too have no mines of their won.