A ‘prabhata bheri’ was organised jointly by Visakhapatnam Apartment Residents Welfare Association (VARWA) and Greater Visakha Residential Colony Associations’ Federation (NIVAS) at the Alluri Sitaramaraju statue at Seethammadhara here on Sunday in protest against the decision of the Centre to sell Visakhapatnam Steel Plant(VSP) and privatisation of public sector units like LIC, GIC, Banks, BSNL, Port and HPCL.
The participants raised slogans opposing the privatisation of Public Sector Industries, which have immensely contributed to the growth of the city besides contributing to the national economy. They demanded immediate allocation of captive mines to the steel plant.
A. Aja Sarma, general secretary, Forum for Development of North Andhra (FDNA), alleged that the Union government was cheating the nation by selling away the national assets in the name of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’. He called upon the people to continue the fight till the privatisation policies were reversed. Later, the participants went in a rally up to Rythu Bazaar and returned.
Ch. Narasinga Rao, State president, CITU, J.P. Sarma, retired deputy general secretary, State Bank Union, Sagar, BSNL Employees’ Union, G. Srinivas Rao, GIC Union, P. Narayana Murty, general secretary, Nivas, Ravi Kumar, Steel Plant Union, K. Mohan Rao, former president, LIC Union, T. Kameswara Rao, vice- president, VARWA and B.B. Ganesh, general secretary, VARWA, participated in the programme.
