Pointing out that it was he who managed to restructure RINL’s debt and paved the way for smooth functioning during former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s regime, Naidu blamed the previous YSR Congress government for not taking the health of the plant seriously.
“The union and the employees (of RINL) have the responsibility to ensure smooth running of operations and turn a loss-making project into a profitable one. While private sector steel plants are making profits, the management should think why a public company has to face such a situation,” he said.
“Even though it is a state sentiment (about RINL’s survival), it cannot be a reason for bailout. We will try to rationalise it completely and ensure that it is not privatised.”
Naidu said he recently held a meeting with Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and HD Kumaraswamy on the issue.
“The Centre may soon release some funds for the plant to ensure smooth functioning,” the CM said. RINL has accumulated a debt of around Rs 18,000 crore and currently the plant is functioning with only one blast furnace out of a total of three, a steel plant official said. However, he said once the raw material supply situation improves, one more furnace may be commissioned by the end of this month.
Meanwhile, the state government has announced some financial assistance for people who suffered due to the recent floods.
Naidu said the government has identified that over 2.72 lakh families have suffered due to floods.
He said the state administration was struggling to bring the situation back to normal.
On the three boats that rammed into the gates of Prakasam Dam, Naidu, suspecting that the opposition YSR Congress was behind the act, said efforts are on to recover the boats.
The ships, each weighing around 50 tonnes, struck the barrier on 1 September, damaging a counterweight.
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