Odisha locals extend support to Vedanta's Lanjigarh refinery

A delegation of project affected people of Vedanta from the region met Mr. Abhijit Pati, CEO Vedanta Aluminium and urged him to continue with operations at Lanjigarh and to explore all possible options to avoid closure of the refinery as it will result in catastrophic consequences for the region. They have presented him with a petition on the same during his visit to Lanjigarh yesterday on 9th September.

Referring to the decision of closing down the plant, the petitioners expressed their concern over the future of ongoing CSR projects. The locals also said that closure of the plant will severely affect livelihoods of more than ten thousand workers of the region and drag the region back to the dark old days of poverty and ill- health.

They also assured to extend all possible cooperation to the CEO and the company. Community leaders said that they would go to any extent including taking up the matter with the Chief Minister and the Prime Minister so that the company gets bauxitefrom Niyamgiri for its operations.

Mr. Pati expressed that the company is exploring all possible options to keep the plant afloat and has urged the Government to quickly resolve the bauxite issue. But he warned that amidst global aluminium crisis, if quick and urgent relief does not come through then the Company will be forced to close down as it is currently making a staggering loss of INR 3 crores per day.

After Vedanta limited announced its decision to gradually shut down the refinery, locals have been rallying for continuation of the plant’s operations and raw material security to support the refinery. A series of bandhs, petitioning, rallies have already been organised by locals.They have also approached the Chief Minister in recent past to resolve the issue.