Congress opposes disinvestment of Odisha based steel PSU ‘Nilachal Ispat’

Bhubaneswar: While the employee’s unions at the Nilachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) have been opposing the privatization of the PSU, the Congress party has come out in support of the unions.

Opposing the central government’s decision to privatize the loss-making PSU, Odisha Pradesh Congress President Niranjan Pattnaik has said that the Congress party during its tenure at the government in the centre and state had planned massive expansion of NINL and had convinced MMTC to take a controlling stake in the company. But the BJP government in the centre and the BJD government in the Odisha are conspiring to sale the PSU to private companies.

He added that the Kalinganagar, with its proximity to key raw material sources, is a strategic location for steel making. But while private companies like Tata Steel are expanding their plants, the government is privatizing a key state-owned firm like NINL.

He demanded that NINL should be handed over to PSUs like SAIL or Odisha government-owned company like OMC.

The union cabinet on January 8 had approved strategic disinvestment of NINL to a strategic buyer which would be identified through a two-stage auction procedure.

NINL a joint venture between Odisha government and MMTC, a PSU under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is undergoing severe financial crisis for the last several years. The company, which requires immediate Rs.300 Crore funding for running its operation, has already shut down several units at its Jajpur plant in Odisha.