Vizag Steel Plant employee's suicide letter creates tension

VISAKHAPATNAM: Tension prevailed in and around

Vizag Steel Plant

and

Gajuwaka

areas on Saturday afternoon following a suicide letter from one the employees of the plant saying that he would sacrifice his life for the protection of the plant.


The incident took place within hours before the

Ukku Karmika Garjana

, a rally and public meeting in protest against the privatisation of Vizag Steel Plant by the

Central government.

He even mentioned the muhurat for the sacrifice as 5.49 pm on Saturday in the

plant furnace

, leaving shock to the trade unions and also cops, who extensively searched for the employee. According to sources, the employee was identified as S.Srinivasa Rao of the Instrumentation wing in the plant. “We came to know that Srinivas had gone to the plant in ‘A’ Shift that means 5 am he went inside the plant. He left the letter in the house before going to the duty,” one of the steel plant employees said.

After the letter had come into light, Srinivas disappeared and the phone was switched off. Nobody knows his whereabouts. Police came to know about the suicide letter and swung into action to find out him. Not only cops, but also workers unions sent around 100 employees to search in the plant and other areas as well. His whereabouts are not known till the hour.

It is recalled that the workers unions of Vizag Steel Plant are staging relay hunger strikes for the past 36 days against total disinvestment in VSP by the central government. Workers are expressing their protest in various forms.

Srinivas in his letter mentioned that 32 people sacrificed their lives to set up the plant in the 1960s, now he would sacrifice his life for the protection of the plant and it would give more strength to the agitating workers. He urged plant employees to fight unitedly against the privatisation. The recognised workers union secretary J Ayodhya Ram told TOI that they have already started searching in the plant and around the plant area. He expressed confidence to protect the plant through agitations and urged the employees not to take extreme steps.

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