Visakhapatnam Steel Plant Sees 600 Employees Opt for VRS

Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is witnessing a significant wave of retirements as around 600 employees have applied for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) by Monday evening. Introduced on January 15, the scheme will remain open until January 31. The VRS aims to reduce costs, optimize manpower, and increase productivity.

Despite the central government’s announcement of an ₹11,400 crore financial package for the plant, many employees remain unsatisfied. KVD Prasad, General Secretary of the Steel Executive Association, revealed that employees are unhappy with the package. They have cited reasons like high work pressure, delayed salary payments, and health concerns as their main motivations for opting for VRS.

The plant has been facing a serious manpower crisis. Over the past four years, around 1,200 employees resigned before the government's disinvestment proposal. Before the VRS scheme, 780 employees left, and another 1,000 are expected to retire. With this, the permanent employee count at VSP will fall to 9,900, much lower compared to other steel plants in India.

As a result of the shrinking workforce, Prasad warned that VSP may struggle to manage all operations. Currently, VSP can only run two blast furnaces, and when the third one starts in August, workers will need to work up to 16 hours daily to manage the load. Other plants like SAIL have 2,700 workers per million tons of production, but VSP only has 1,700, with the number expected to decrease further.

The situation worsens as younger employees are seeking better opportunities in other steel plants across the country.