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.