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.

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

Putting Kalahandi on Global Map – Jogabyas

“All is in the mind” says Jogabyas Bhoi. This is a story of tenacity and grit displayed by an ordinary Kalahandian who desired to scale new heights since childhood. At first, having scaled Niyamgiri, he realized that it is important for him to go beyond.

“We found a spark in him” remarks Dr. Mukesh Kumar, President & COO-Vedanta Aluminium, Lanjigarh. Perhaps afterwards Jogabyas never looked back. Backed by support from Vedanta Aluminium and District Administration, Jogabyas scaled Mt Everest on April 16, 2012.

Jogabyasa with his students at VAL refinery

Now the bar has been raised. “I wish to groom young talent of Kalahandi in the field of mountaineering. We have formed “Odisha Mountaineering Trust” which aims to provide platform for such talent”, says Jogabyas. Perhaps the never-say-die attitude led to the first expedition with a batch of five students led by Jogabyas to move up to the base camp of Mt Annapurna in Nepal. All the students hail from Kalahandi district.

Back home, Jogabyas along with his students also visited Vedanta Aluminium, Lanjigarh Refinery. He agrees that corporate like TATA, Vedanta and others share the determination to bring change in lives of people and make India proud. He believes to add a new vibrant identity to Kalahandi both nationally and globally as a powerhouse which churns several maintainers of repute. Recently several maintainers from other parts of the country expressed their desire to visit Kalahandi, adds Jogabyas.

Also Read: Vedanta Aluminium helps Jogabyasa Bhoi to conquer Mt. Everest

Also Read: Everest glory for Oriya

 Manas Ranjan, student of Jogabyas from Rupra , Kalahandi aims to climb Mt. Pandim in Sikkim Himalaya range. “Nobody has scaled to the summit and I want to make history” says Manas. This 14-yr old youngster is yet to complete his 10th standard.

It is a fact that there are many youngsters who are indeed good maintainers. But lack of proper systems and platform is a hurdle. However it does not deter Jogabyas. “I have been blessed by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam who said I will definitely go places in life,” remarks Jogabyas.

Life is a journey and these five mountaineers led by Jogabyas have big plans to put Kalahandi on the global map of Mountaineering.

Health Awareness Through Street Plays Organised at Lanjigarh

Huge response was seen from the people of Lanjigarh area in Kalahandi district of Odisha to the Street Plays organized to Crate Health Awareness in an entertaining way. The campaign reached out to 36 villages of Lanjigarh periphery, mainly tribal dominated, organized by Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) in association with the Health and Family Welfare Department Govt. of Odisha.

The street plays concentrated on health related issues like – malaria, diarrhoea, mother & child health, hand washing, safe drinking water, individual household toilet, sanitation etc. The campaign was conducted from 4th July'12 in peripheral villages like Rengopali, Basantpada, Bundel, Lanjigarh, Nangalbeda etc. Meaningful health-related messages were given through the street plays.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Mukesh Kumar, President & COO–VAL, said, “Lanjigarh is a malaria-prone area. Due to lack of awareness, health related issues crop up in their life. This campaign has touched the lives of the people in these regions which will help them to maintain a healthy society.”

The people in the region were receptive to the awareness programme as many of them are unaware about maintaining better healthcare. Appreciating the street plays, Linga Majhi of Rengopali village said, “Our people are unaware about such issues like malaria, diarrhoea, mother & child health, safe drinking etc. Many people till now hesitate to go to hospital and opt to the locally available sources to cure themselves. However, these plays have educated us (especially women) in an entertaining way. We are thankful to VAL.”

Vedanta Commits to Environment; To Plant One Lakh Sapling At Lanjigarh

 Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), Lanjigarh, celebrated World Environment Day on June 5, 2012 by organizing a massive plantation programme  involving all the Vedanta & its associate employers & families. On the occasion, Dr. Mukesh Kumar, President & COO informed that nearly one lakh saplings will be planted in and around the plant this year as part of our commitment towards making the area green and to improve the ecology of the area.

 The Environment Day Celebration at Lanjigarh commenced with plantation in the plant premises and at Resettlement and Rehabilitation colony viz. Niyamgiri Vedanta Nagar in which all employees of VAL and its Associated Partners participated.

Inaugurating the programme, Dr. Mukesh Kumar further impressed upon the principle of sustainable development through sustainable waste management & adopting best environmental practices. He said, “Our mission is to make a forest inside the plant instead of building a plant inside the forest.” He also reiterated on the initiatives and the road-map VAL-Lanjigarh has prepared to make optimum utilization of natural resources through recycling and recovering of wealth from waste and making VAL-Lanjigarh the first alumina refinery across the globe to have zero waste in addition to being a zero discharge plant.

This year the theme of World Environment Day is “Green Economy, Does it include you?” At VAL, for awareness on environment, competitions on Slogan and painting were organized among the employees of VAL and other associated companies as well as among the school children. The day-long programme also includes an awareness march organized at the VAL Township by all the families of Vedanta’s employees & school children followed by plantation and prize giving ceremony to the winners of various competitions.



An Endeavor to Empower Women at Lanjigarh

To improve options of income generation of local women through locally viable group enterprises, Vedanta Aluminium Limited, Lanjigarh in collaboration with Integrated Child Development Serves (ICDS) on May 17-18 organized a special training program with the theme ‘Book keeping, Record keeping and Benefits of SHG Formation’ at Niyamgiri Vedanta Nagar Community Centre & Kenduguda village respectively covering 93 women members from 11 Self Help Groups.

VAL, Lanjigarh conducted the training programme under the project Sashakti. So far 22 SHG’s have been strengthened covering 236 women in 12 villages. During the session, a detailed training was imparted by Child Development Programme Officer (CDPO), Lanjigarh Block Smt. Laxmibai Guru. The CSR Team of VAL along with Niharika Sahu, Sweety Mukherjee facilitated the training session. The Training was based on the important aspects of SHG like Concept of Self Help Groups (SHG’s), Need of SHG’s, formation, rules and regulations, mobilization and managing savings, roles and responsibilities and book keeping.

Many practical exercises were carried out through demonstrations like understanding the Umbrella concept thereby making them aware of mother and child care. A graph was also shown to make the SHG members aware of the stages of child development. The SHGs were made aware of the role and functions of Anganwadi workers and how they can facilitate the work.

The objective of the training programme was to improve options of income generation of local women through locally viable group enterprises by way of thrift and credit habit among the women and thereby enhance their quality of life ensuring their empowerment in family and social decision making process.