The high court on Thursday directed the Adani Gangavaram Port management to shift the vessel with coking coal docked at its port to Visakhapatnam port immediately.
The HC expressed displeasure over the state govt for not taking necessary measures to ensure uninterrupted coal supply to Visakhapatnam steel plant.
The HC directed the registry to include the chief secretary, Visakhapatnam collector and commissioner of police as party respondents in the petition so that appropriate orders will be passed for supply of coal to steel plant.
One K Venkata Durga Prasad, the general secretary of steel executives, moved the HC seeking directions to Visakhapatnam district collector to take necessary measures to ensure uninterrupted supply of coking coal in view of workers strike at Adani Gangavaram port.
Arguing on behalf of the petitioner, Ambati Srikanth Reddy said that the coal supply to steel plant has been stalled after the port workers went on strike. With the shortage of coal, the steel plant is on the verge of closure as only one out of three furnaces is in working. If the production is stalled completely, it would cost thousands of crores to restart the furnaces against. The letter written by the steel plant CMD to the chief secretary depicts the gravity of the situation, said Srikanth Reddy. As livelihood of workers is dependent on the steel plant, he sought directions from the HC to the district administration and the port management to take measures for uninterrupted coal supply.
Arguing on behalf of the Visakhapatnam collector, the govt pleader said that there have been negotiations between port management and the collector has suggested to give enhanced benefits to the workers.
Senior counsel Y V Ravi Prasad argued on behalf of the port management stating that the workers went on strike without giving any notice. He said that around 2,000 acres of land has been acquired for the port and as part of the rehabilitation package, 500 farmers were given with jobs in the port.
However, they are unskilled workers and it has remained as an issue since beginning. Ravi Prasad said that because of workers strike, the port is incurring ₹5 crore loss every day. The workers are demanding to increase their salary from ₹22,000 to ₹36,000 or to pay ₹50 lakh for taking voluntary retirement.
About 2.7 lakh metric tonnes of coal stocks have been struck at the port because of the strike he said.
