Congress blames Modi govt for uncertainty in SAIL units, says ‘it appears that privatisation…’

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday alleged that the central government under Narendra Modi is solely responsible for the uncertainty surrounding SAIL units, which were supposed to be divested.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Rajya Sabha MP wrote, “Five years back the Modi government decided to sell off three units of SAIL: the Alloys Steel Plant at Durgapur, the Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant at Bhadravati, and the Salem Steel Plant.”

“Now it appears that the privatization has been called off. It is a victory, no doubt for the workers who agitated against the sale and for parties like the Indian National Congress that had stoutly opposed the ill-thought move,” he said.

“But the uncertainty these past few years has affected the companies for which the Modi Govt is solely responsible,” the Congress leader added.

His remarks came after the government decided to scrap the privatization of SAIL’s Salem Steel Plant (SSP) in Tamil Nadu. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had accorded ‘in-principle’ approval for the strategic disinvestment of Salem Steel Plant (SSP), Salem, in 2019.

The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, in an official notification, said that multiple EoIs had been received and bidders were shortlisted.

“However, due to lack of interest of shortlisted bidders to proceed further with the transaction, Government of India, with the approval of Alternative Mechanism (Empowered Group of Ministers) has decided to annul the current EoI thereby terminating the present transaction,” it said.

In 2019, it reportedly decided to halt the privatization of the Durgapur-based Alloys Steels Plant (ASP) while in 2022, the sale of Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISP) in Bhadravati, Karnataka, was called off citing a lack of interest from bidders.