Vedanta Staff at Naveen's Door

The ‘Save Vedanta Movement’ gained momentum with around 30 representatives of local employees and community meeting the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today. The delegation met the CM and gave him a memorandum and appealed for regular supply bauxite from Odisha to the alumina refinery of Vedanta Aluminium Limited at Lanjigarh so that the company doesn’t close down.

The Chief Minister was kind enough to meet all members of the delegation. He gave assurance and said, “I will follow it up and take the matter forward in consultation with the Chief Secretary. All necessary steps will be taken.” A day earlier, the delegation gave a memorandum to the Chief Secretary, Minister of Mines and Minister of Labour and Employment. The Chief Secretary ensured that he is concerned and will take steps to sort out the issue for the wellbeing of the people.

The local community said the company has already sent a temporary closure notice to the Govt. of Odisha due to lack of raw material (bauxite) and at this juncture, if regular bauxite will not be supplied to the refinery thousands of people will be impacted. “In spite of having large quantities of Bauxite in the state, if Vedanta Alumina Refinery closes down, Kalahandi will again become poverty-affected,” the memorandum said.

“I am from Lanjigarh of Kalahandi and I know if the company will close down, life of more than 20,000 people will be affected. We want that govt. should take immediate measures for supply of Odisha Bauxite to the company so that we and our region will prosper,” said Srikant Bohidar of Lanjigarh.

A lot of protest, agitation is seen in the recent times demanding Odisha bauxite supply to the Alumina Refinery of Vedanta Aluminium Limited at Lanjigarh.

Residents of Kalahandi Approach Member of Parliament against Vedanta closure

After Vedanta Aluminium Limited’s plant closure notice to the Odisha Govt., the ‘Save Vedanta Movement’ seems to be escalating further with hundreds of local people working at the alumina refinery meeting the Member of Parliament – Kalahandi, Odisha, Bhakta Charan Das on 15^th September 2012. The localities handed over a memorandum to the MP seeking his intervention in taking their concern to the appropriate authorities so that the present situation of closing the refinery at Lanjigarh can be averted.

Local workforce, more than 300 in numbers, approached the Congress leader at his residence in Bhawanipatna and requested him to consider their demand. “If Vedanta at Lanjigarh will be shut down, thousands of local people working at the refinery will be jobless and livelihood of more than 10,000 people would get affected directly or indirectly,” said Hari Majhi, a local employee and a member of the displaced families.

The local workforce also told the Congress MP that in spite of having several bauxite deposits in Kalahandi, industrialisation in the district is facing a setback as VAL has already sent closure notice to the Odisha Govt. owing to lack of regular supply of bauxite.

“We, the local workforce of the company and residents of Kalahandi request your kind intervention in taking our concern to the appropriate authorities so that the present situation can be averted and more employment opportunities can be created for our other brothers and sisters of Kalahandi,” locals of Kalahandi stated in the memorandum submitted to the MP.

This move was followed by a series of demonstration and agitation by the localities of Lanjigarh area and the local workforce of the refinery to save VAL by ensuring regular supply of Odisha bauxite. This series of ‘Save Vedanta Movement’ is subsequent to the notice sent by Vedanta Aluminium Limited to Odisha Government seeking temporary closure of its Lanjigarh refinery from 5^th December 2012.

Vedanta conferred with Kalinga Safety Award

His Excellency the Hon'ble Governor of Odisha, Shri Muralidhar Chandrakant Bhandare presented the prestigious KALINGA SAFETY AWARD 2011 to Vedanta Aluminium Limited, Lanjigarh on September 14, 2012 in a glittering ceremony held in Hotel New Marion, Bhubaneswar. Sri Rabi Narayan Mishra, Head-HSE, Vedanta Lanjigarh Unit, received the award from His Excellency on behalf of the company.

This Award has been instituted by the Renowned ODISHA STATE SAFETY CONCLAVE 2012 of Odisha. Giving importance to safety aspect in industries, Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare expressed his concern that lack of knowledge about dangers increases occurrence of accident. He also called upon the industrial houses to strictly adopt safety tools to ensure safety of the workers.

The two-day programme was organised by Institute of Quality and Environment Management Services Private Limited and Rotary Club of Bhubaneswar Heritage supported by the Ministry of Labour & Employment, Govt. of India and Department of Labour & ESI, Govt. of Odisha along with the Department of Tourism, Govt. of Odisha and Disaster Management Institute, Bhopal.

Local Employees, Affected Community Come Forward for Vedanta

Subsequent to the notice sent by Vedanta Aluminium Limited to Odisha Government seeking temporary closure of its Lanjigarh refinery from 5^th December 2012, people from Lanjigarh and nearby areas have come forward to support the Company in demanding immediate allocation of bauxite.

Hundreds of local employees, project affected people and displaced persons staged a peaceful demonstration in front of the office of District Collector and District Magistrate of Kalahandi in Odisha. They were demanding that government should ensure steady supply of bauxite to Vedanta’s Lanjigarh refinery so that the livelihood of thousands of people who depend on it will not get jeopardised. A memorandum to this effect was handed over to the District Collector.

According to the affected people, the alumina refinery is on the verge of closure which will hamper employment and livelihood of a larger community in Kalahandi and Rayagada district. “Many local graduates are employed at the refinery of Vedanta directly and indirectly. However, if bauxite from Odisha is not provided to the refinery, it may be forced to close down which will wipe out hopes and dreams of many students who aspire to get employment at the only industry in the district,” said Parimita Behera a localite of Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi district of Odisha.

People at the rehabilitation colony viz. Niyamgiri Vedanta Nagar are also concerned after the closure (temporary) notice was sent. “We are rehabilitated, provided with jobs, our children get quality education at English medium school. And, at this juncture if Odisha bauxite is not provided to VAL, it will be closed down after which our life will again take a back step of 10 years,” said Hari Majhi of Lanjigarh.

Vedanta to shut down its Odisha refinery plant from December 5

Unable to run the refinery project to its full capacity since inception due to scarcity of bauxite, Vedanta Aluminium Limited on August 6, 2012 formally informed the Odisha government about its plan to shut down the plant from December five.

"We have given a letter to the secretary-cum- commissioner of labour department of the Odisha government about the closure plan. The three month notice is mandatory under the industrial dispute act before shutting down operations," Mukesh Kumar, President & Chief Operating Officer of VAL said.

Stating that the VAL had designed the smelter plant at Lanjigarh in Kahalandi district based on buffer bauxite, Kumar said the company could not get a gram of raw material from the state.
"Though you (state government) had guaranteed supply of bauxite raw material in the MoU, the company has not received any during its five years operation," Kumar wrote in the letter seeking the state government's help to run the plant.

Also Read: Vedanta calls for India to restrict bauxite exports  (Economic Times)

The company, which made operational its 1mtpa refinery at Lanjigarh in 2007, also stated that it could not use the plant to its full capacity during the last five years.

"Though we arranged raw material from other states, it was not possible anymore due to environmental clearance in many places. VAL also could not arrange bauxite from Gujarat as the state government preferred to export the raw material," Kumar said.

Under such a situation, the company incurred a loss of about Rs 2,500 crore for running the refinery at Lanjigarh, he said in the letter.

The VAL COO also requested the state government to help it by providing the raw material for running the refinery plant after December 5.

"If situation improves within 90 days, the company may not shut down the plant," he said.

The company has so far invested Rs 9,000 crore in the project which provided employment to 7,000 people including direct jobs to 3,000 persons, the COO said.

Though the company applied for 26 bauxite reserves in the state, nothing was finalised due to different reasons.

The company required 10,000 ton of bauxite every day to feed its 1mtpa refinery plant.

Steel and mines minister R K Singh said "We have not received the letter. The government will examine VAL's issue after getting the letter."

Courtesy: Business Standard