Union Minister for Civil Aviation, K Ram Mohan Naidu, on Saturday reiterated that the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant will not be privatized. He said that he would speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and stop privatization of the steel plant.
The Union Minister interacted with the media at Amaravati after the MPs meeting with party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu. He said that union steel minister H D Kumara Swamy had visited the steel plant earlier this month. He said that the minister had promised to keep the steel plant in the public sector.
Ram Mohan Naidu said that he would represent the issue with the Central government. The steel plant is the sentiment of the people of Andhra Pradesh, he said. He further added that several people across the two Telugu states have fought for the steel plant. Over 30 people were killed in the police firing for the agitation, he said.
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The TDP is committed to keep the steel plant with the government, he said. He further added that the TDP would not allow the Central government to privatise the steel plant. Earlier also, the TDP had represented to the Central government against the plans to privatise the steel plant, he added. This time, all the TDP MPs and the Jana Sena MPs would also give representation to the Central government to save the steel plant, he said.
The Minister said that he would also try to get more funds from the Central government. He would explore every possibility to get funds to the state. The previous YSR Congress government did not give matching grants for some schemes, he said. The YSR Congress government had diverted the Central funds to various schemes, he alleged.
The Central government officials have also confirmed the matching grants issue of the YSR Congress government, he said. He added that the present NDA government in the state is committed to get every rupee from the Central government. This government would also give the matching grants and get funds, he added.
He said that the present government is ready to give matching grants and get the Central funds. There are a number of Central schemes, he said. He asserted that this government would make use of every scheme and develop the state.