Steel Plant Crisis Looms Amid Adani Gangavaram Port Standoff

The ongoing standoff between management at Adani Gangavaram Port and striking manual workers has escalated into a severe crisis at the Steel Plant's coke oven batteries, threatening potential shutdown. 

According to reports, former fishermen turned manual workers, demanding higher wages after losing their land to the port, initiated the strike, halting the supply of coking coal and coal to the steel plant since 12 April.

Concerned about the impending shutdown, the steel executives association petitioned the high court on 3 May, urging the state government to deploy additional police personnel to ensure immediate coal and limestone supply to the steel plant via conveyor belt from Gangavaram Port. The court granted the port management time until 24 June to negotiate with the workers and resolve the crisis.

With approximately 1,200 regular workers at the port and an additional 519 workers appointed under an agreement to aid fishermen who lost their livelihood, demands for higher wages have persisted over the last 15 years.

Despite recent orders for material supply to the steel plant, no action has been taken by the district administration or the police, prompting the association to consider filing a contempt petition. KVD Prasad, the general secretary of the steel executives' association, appealed to all stakeholders, including striking workers, to help resolve the crisis urgently due to the steel plant's critical need for raw materials.

Recognising the fast-depleting raw material stock, Atul Bhat, Chairman and Managing Director of RINL, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, implored district authorities and the police to swiftly intervene to avert a crisis. 

Currently, only one blast furnace out of three is operational, significantly reducing production to 3,000 tonnes per day from the usual 17,000 tons per day, as confirmed by a senior official.

The steel plant, which boasted a total production of 73 million tonnes per annum when all three blast furnaces were operational, now faces dire consequences if the coke oven batteries remain inactive. 

Narsinga Rao, State President of CITU, expressed concern, stating that the crisis, if left unaddressed, could lead to substantial costs for reviving operations. Rao also criticised the ruling party, alleging deliberate exacerbation of the crisis to facilitate steel plant privatisation.