State govt urged to arrange bauxite for Vedanta

Bhubaneswar: Voicing concern over the fate of workers due to shutting down of the refinery of Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) in Kalahandi district, a senior BJP leader on Monday asked the Odisha government to arrange bauxite from some source for the resumption of operation of the alumina plant.

"Shut down of refinery at Lanjigarh two days ago due to acute scarcity of bauxite has come as a blow to about 3,500 workers engaged in the plant as their livelihood is now at stake," BJP leader and former Odisha Minister Pradipta Nayak told reporters here.

In the interest of workers and others associated with the plant indirectly, the state government must take steps to provide raw material to VAL from some source, including a bauxite reserve, he said.

After successfully operating its refinery for seven long years without getting any bauxite from the Odisha government, VAL announced temporary shutdown of its refinery plant on October 15 due to lack of raw material.