Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Visakhapatnam, employees of the Vizag steel plant staged a protest on Wednesday demanding that the Centre should revoke its decision to privatise the plant.

Over 10,000 workers of the steel plant will also boycott work on Friday when Prime Minister Modi will be on a visit to the port city. The employees have also decided to protest till the prime minister leaves Vizag.

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Prime Minister Modi will visit Vizag to inaugurate as well as lay the foundation stone for quite a few developmental and infrastructure projects. He will also address a public rally at the Andhra University grounds.

However, prior to his visit a large number of employees today gathered and raised slogans like “Go back Modi” and “Save Vizag Steel Plant” holding placards reading: “Modi ji, Stop Vizag Steel Plant Sale.” A large number of police personnel were deployed to ensure that nothing went wrong.

The staff under the Vizag Steel Plant Porata Samiti, an umbrella organisation of the various trade unions in the steel plant, also took out a massive bike rally. For long, the employees of the steel plant have been protesting against the Centre’s decision to privatise the steel plant.

The state government too has approached the Centre to revoke its plan to privatize the only public sector unit in the bifurcated state. Even the state BJP unit had app.

Meanwhile, the TRS has alleged that the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate an already operational fertiliser factory at Ramagundam on 12 November was prompted by political considerations.

TRS MP B Vinod Kumar said that the state government was neither consulted nor was the chief minister invited according to protocol and accused Mr Modi of being arrogant. This was done intentionally to stop chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao from attending the programme.

He reminded the Centre that the state government also has a share in the Ramagundam Fertiliser company.

On the other hand, 64 intellectuals from Telangana have written a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to fulfil the promises made by the Centre in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. This includes the steel factory in Bayyaram, coach factory at Kazipet aswell as tribal university. Instead the Centre cancelled the proposed Information Technology Investment region which would have provided jobs to the youth.