A delegation of the Steel Executives Federation of India (SEFI) called on Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in New Delhi on Saturday and pressed him to oppose the privatization of steel PSUs.
The Central government is planning privatization of the Nagarnar Steel Plant (Chhattisgarh), Neelachal Steel Plant (Odisha), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (Visakhapatnam) as well as three other units of the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL).
The Chief Minister told the delegation that the Chhattisgarh government knows the importance of Public Sector Units (PSUs) as it makes an impact at the national level.
The state government has passed a resolution in the Assembly stating that the state will take over the Nagarnar Steel Plant if privatized.
The delegation suggested that if adequate changes are made, these steel companies can be made profitable.
The Nagarnar Steel Plant, Neelachal Steel Plant and Vizag Steel Plant can complement each other. If all the three companies are merged into one company, then the new company will have two advanced steel plants, abundant iron ore and its own port of export.
At present due to separate operations, they are incurring losses.
The delegation urged Baghel to lead the efforts to merge these PSUs.