Vedanta Launches Centralized Mid-Day Meal Kitchen at Lanjigarh

5000 students of primary and upper primary schools of Lanjigarh Panchayat in Kalahandi district of Odisha will now get hygienic and nutritious food - courtesy Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), which has collaborated with the Government of Odisha and Naandi Foundation to set up a hi-tech centralized mid-day meal kitchen in Lanjigarh.

Fresh, healthy and nourishing food cooked in this kitchen would cater to students from 50 schools covering many villages viz. Jaganathpur, Basantpada, Biswanathpur, Lanjigarh, Balabhadrapur, Pokhribandh, Chhatrapur, Jodabandh and Niyamgiri Vedanta Nagar. The project aims at improving the hygiene and nutritional value as well as increasing enrolment along with the retention of children in schools.

Appreciating the initiative, former SC & ST Minister Mr. Balabhaadra Majhi, said, “Vedanta’s attempt to provide nutritious and hygienic food to the children of Lanjigarh area is commendable. I am sure this would also help improve the overall rate of attendance in these schools.”

Dr. Mukesh Kumar, President & COO, VAL said, “The centralized mid-day meal kitchen intends to provide quality food to the children of Lanjigarh area. This would facilitate the government run mid-day meal programme and benefit students studying in the remotest of schools.”

As part of the MoU, Vedanta Aluminium Limited, has set up the centralized kitchen, where food will be cooked and sent to schools. Naandi Foundation will be responsible for cooking and management of the kitchen and also for delivering the food at the doorstep of the schools. The district administration will provide ration and other necessary items as per the mid-day meal scheme of the Government of Odisha.

Vedanta runs seven state-of-the-art kitchens in the states of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh providing mid-day meals to over 2.5 lakh children.

Govt. Must Provide Bauxite in Odisha to Vedanta: Demand Locals

A never-seen-before agitation supporting industrialization in Odisha brought life to a standstill. Thousands of people in Kalahandi district’s Lanjigarh area and adjacent places like Biswanathpur, Daikhal, Ambodala etc. protested and shouted slogans demanding allocation of bauxite to the alumina refinery of Vedanta Aluminum Limited (VAL) in Lanjigarh.
The people in these regions came to the streets on August 29, 2012 and observed a one day bandh. Due to scarcity of bauxite, VAL had to run its refinery at 40-50 percent of its capacity. If this situation continues, then it is anticipated that there will be a stoppage of production at Lanjigarh. The locals fear that this would lead to loss of jobs and affect livelihood.
The protest was prominent in Lanjigarh and was spearheaded by Lanjigarh Anchalika Vikash Parishad. Sridhara Pesnia, president of the Anchalika Vikas Parishad said that the people in Lanjigarh were disappointed as their future appears to be in the dark since no bauxite mine has been allotted to Vedanta.
“The alumina refinery should be provided bauxite from Odisha. The state and central govt. must ensure this, else the local people will be affected. Thousands of localities depend on the refinery for their livelihood. We will go to the Chief Minister and if required to Delhi to meet the Prime Minister in future if bauxite mine is not provided to Vedanta”, added Pesnia.
Few days ago, nearly two thousand localities of Lanjigarh area staged a demonstration demanding bauxite mines for the Company.

Vedanta Supports Quality Education For Tribal Children

 Vedanta through its Foundation has funded education for 100 children in the tribal-dominated Rayagada district of Odisha with an objective of providing an equal opportunity to underprivileged children from the tribal population, including Dongria Kondhs, to pursue formal education.

In the first phase of the project, Vedanta Foundation has sent 63 tribal students between 5-8 years of age to Kalinga Institute of Social Science (KISS), Bhubaneswar – the sister concern of KIIT. The rest 37 students would be sent there in the second phase. In this regard a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Vedanta Foundation, KISS and Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), Lanjigarh. Vedanta Foundation would be supporting the project with an amount of Rs. 25 Lakhs per annum.

Appreciating the initiative, Mr. Balabhadra Majhi – Former SC & ST Minister, Govt. of Odisha, said, “Vedanta’s effort to provide quality education for the upliftment of tribal children is commendable. I am thankful to the corporate house for this noble cause. I hope more such attempts will be undertaken by Vedanta.”
Speaking about the initiative, Dr. Mukesh Kumar, President & COO – VAL said, “As a responsible corporate it is our prime responsibility to provide quality education to the tribal children around us because it is the only medium which can bring them into mainstream and help them live a better life. Quality education would ensure a bright future for these children and eventually, bring prosperity to the community.”
Beneficiary students of this project have been identified from Bissumcuttack, Muniguda and Kalyansinghpur blocks of Rayagada district which is predominantly inhabited by Dongria Kondh community.

To Save VAL Lanjigarh Refinery

Save VAL Lanjigarh Plant, Localites appeal to govt

Tribals, officials take to streets on shutdown talk

 As the news spread that London-based Vedanta Aluminium Limited is planning to shut down its Lanjigarh alumina refinery unit in Orissa’s Kalahandi district, over 5,000 people gathered at Lanjigarh and urged the state and Union governments to ensure that the VAL authorities reconsider their decision and stay on at the place.

According to sources in the VAL, the company has virtually stopped operations of its one-million-tonne refinery because of non-availability of bauxite, the principal raw material of the facility.

The people who gathered under the leadership of Sridhar Pensia said at least 4,000 people who are directly and indirectly involved in the project work will be on the streets if the plant was closed down for good.

Hundreds of women of Lanjigarh, a tribal-dominated village, said the local people will be deprived of quality education, healthcare facilities and good connectivity they availed after the company established its 4,500-crore project.

In the afternoon, over 600 employees of the VAL and its associatee partners also held a demonstration in front of the plant protesting the Union and state government’s dilatory approach to ensure bauxite linkage to the project.

Also Read:

Tribals, officials take to streets on shutdown talk (Deccan Chronicle)

Vedanta to Close lanjigarh Plant  (Financial Express)

Vedanta may temporarily shut down Odisha refinery  (Business Standard)

The fate of the one-million-tonne refinery project has been pushed into uncertainty because of unavailability of bauxite. The company is incurring losses of 3 to 4 crores a day. Although the Vedanta was pledged Niyamgiri bauxite reserve close to its plant facility, it has failed to get the same because of opposition from green activists and a number of litigations which are pending for disposal.

Courtesy: Asian Age

Vedanta Conducts Safety Awareness Campaign

As part of the regular activity to aware the employees and workers about safety measures, a week-log campaign was organised at Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), Lanjigarh which was concluded here on August 15, 2012.

The 7-day long Safety Awareness Campaign was started on 7th August with several awareness activity and competitions as part of the programme. The prime focus of the awareness programme was the Safety March around the alumina refinery of VAL at Lanjigarh which was led by Dr. Mukesh Kumar, President & COO – VAL, Lanjigarh. Including the senior officials of VAL and its associated partners, all other employees participated in the march.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Mukesh Kumar said, “Safety of the employees and workers remains the highest priority for VAL. We definitely celebrate the safety Week, but with an intention to make our workers aware about safety and to make the daily life safe, we have organised this safety week. We will organise such safety awareness programmes regularly for the safety of everybody working here.”

All senior officials of VAL-Lanjigarh participated in the safety awareness programmes such Mr. Bimalananda Senapati, Head-Operations; Mr. KR Kundu, Head-HR; Mr. Rabi Narayan Mishra-Head, Health, Safety and Environment and Mr. BS Mund, Head-Power Plant. However, Pramod Kumar, Suniti Dhal and Soumya Ranjan Nayak played vital roles to make the safety Awareness Campaign successful.

The week-long schedule included various awareness programmes related to safety such as drawing, painting, quiz, road safety campaign, essay etc. among employees of VAL and its associated partners.
 

 

Bhawanipatna-Bhubaneswar Link Express flagged off

After completion of the much-awaited rail line up to Bhawanipatna, the long wait of the citizens here has finally come to an end as the Bhawanipatna-Rayagada-Bhubaneswar Link Express has been flagged off on the evening August 11, 2012. Kalahandi MP and former railway minister Bhakta Das flagged off the train in presence of District Collector Mr. Dukhisyam Satapathy and DRM, East Coast railway, Sambalpur Dision.

The Express train on the way to Bhubaneswar would touch Vizianagaram and Berhampur. Besides, Bhawanipatna-Raipur DMU is also run. It took 21 years to link Bhawanipatna with railway connectivity.

Congratulating the people of Kalahandi Dr. Mukesh Kumar, President & COO, Vedanta Aluminium Limited, Lanjigarh said, “The long awaited dream of the people of Kalahandi and especially Bhawanipatna has been accomplished. I congratulate all the people on the occasion.” The new railway line will also beneficial to the people of Lanjigarh Biswanathpur also.

It has become a historic occasion for Das who had put up a proposal for railway connectivity to Bhawanipatna during the tenure of erstwhile Janata Dal Government at the Centre led by V P Singh in 1991. The 32-km rail link has been connected from Lanjigarh Road to Bhawanipatna while the link to Junagarh will be completed soon.

Sign of Development: Lanjigarh Witnesses Demand for Higher Education

Lanjigarh which is situated in a remote corner in Kalahandi district of Odisha seems to be witnessing a sea change. The tribal people in Lanjigarh region, which is considered to be one of the backward regions in the country, now demands to come to the main stream.

The recent reports of a strike at Lanjigarh for enrolling of more local students in the ‘SC & ST +2 Science and Commerce College’ run by Govt. of Odisha speaks in at length how the tribal people in this region ready to go to the extent of road blockage, strike etc only to enroll their sons and daughters in the educational institute. The people in the region have realized the true value of education.

August 9, 2012 saw a standstill Lanjigarh only because few tribal students of the region couldn’t get enrolled in the college. People came out from their houses to make sure a one-day strike at Lanjigarh successful. They clearly wanted to send the message that they have the right to study at the college situated at Lanjigarh.

Speaking about the strike at Lanjigarh, Keshab Majhi said, “We are blessed that our next generation can have access to better education and at an institute like DAV Vedanta International School. The revolt for education is inevitable because of industrialization in the region. Now everybody wants to come to the mainstream and to access better life.”

The demand for better education can also be seen at the DAV Vedanta International School at Lanjigarh, the only English medium school in the locality. The school now has enrolled nearly 500 students of the locality who are mostly tribal. The school, when started with three students now has enrolled nearly 500 students at a tribal dominated place. This in itself shows how the local people are aware about education and development.