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 here 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 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.
This newspaper on Wednesday had carried a story on the present state of affairs in the VAL refinery unit.
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.