1,600 Visakhapatnam Steel Plant employees opt for VRS

A view of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
| Photo Credit: File Photo

A total of 1,600 employees (both executives and non-executives) of the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), are said to have applied for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) offered by the management as per the Ministry of Steel guidelines.

Out of them, 660 are said to be executives and 940 non-executives.

According to sources, the total number of regular employees is 12,300, including 3,900 executives.

As per the guidelines, 4,000 employees out of 12,300 are eligible for VRS. An employee who is 45 years of age is eligible. The scheme was open till January 31.

Applicants are expected to receive the VRS sanction notices and one month’s service notice by mid-February.

The significant number of applications has surprised many, especially after the Union government announced a financial package worth ₹11,442 crore.

“Around ₹506 crore is said to have been allocated for the VRS applicants. Out of 1,600 applicants, around 1,200 may get the VRS sanction order,” says Janashakti Mazdoor Sabha general secretary V. Srinivasa Rao.

“The steel plant once had a turnover of ₹28,000 crore and an operating profit of ₹940 crore when the Central government announced its disinvestment plan in January 2021. Senior employees are leaving in the name of VRS,” he says.

“The employees are unhappy with the package, financial problems in all these four years, work stress, delay in salary payment and health issues,” says Visakhapatnam Steel Executives’ Association general secretary K.V.D. Prasad.

“The steel plant’s permanent workforce, which is much lower than other steel plants in the country, will gradually be reduced in future. The reduced workforce can handle only three blast furnaces. The third one will be restarted in June-July as informed by Steel Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. So, the existing employees will have to work under severe stress to handle all the three furnaces. This is one of the main reasons behind the VRS,” says an applicant on condition of anonymity.