Vedanta re-approaches Odisha Govt for bauxite mines

In an attempt to avoid the posssible closure of Lanjigarh plant where operations have been badly hit due to unavailability of bauxite, KK Dave, chief operating officer (COO) of Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) met Odisha Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick at the state secretariat on Saturday to request him for allocation of a mine, once again.

“We have been running this plant here as per the agreement with Odisha Government since last ten years with a hope to use raw materials from the state. But we haven’t even got a tonne of bauxite from here yet. We are not in a position to run the plant even for a day longer. However, we had a meeting with the government today to discuss the issue. The negotiations are still on and there would be another meeting next week. We wouldn’t mind continuing with talks if it can end in a solution,” said Dave.

Mines Minister, however, pushed the entire agenda to the next meeting. He said, “They requested the government for allocation of bauxite mines. Another round of meeting would be held next Friday with companies such as NALCO to discuss things further.”

The meeting was of high significance since it followed the meeting between Lanjigarh BJD MLA Balabhadra Majhi, Bhawanipatna Sadar MLA Anam Naik and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik just a day before. The MLAs had strongly lobbied for the company saying the closure of the refinery would result in large-scale unemployment and had demanded immediate allocation of bauxite mines to Vedanta Aluminium to keep its starving Lanjigarh plant operational.

As per information provided by COO earlier, the shutdown would impact nearly 10,000 people directly and the region at large as the company's CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives like Mid-day Meal in as many as 187 schools and the Vedanta Lanjigarh Hospital that provides free medical treatment would get affected.

The company had approached the state government quite a few times earlier seeking support in the form of bauxite mine allocation for the Lanjigarh plant. The government however did not come to the rescue. The chain of events gained momentum finally when Vedanta published a press release announcing the closure of the plant on August 25.

“We ran this unit with all commitment for nearly a decade, despite heavy odds. But with the current market turmoil, which is not likely to improve soon and in the absence of access to bauxite from within the State, the plant is operating with a daily loss of INR 3 crores," said Dave.