The communities affected by closure of Vedanta’s alumina refinery met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at Biswanathpur in Kalahandi on Sunday and requested his intervention in the closure of the refinery.
Three delegations, representing members of displaced families, people who have lost their jobs following closure of the refinery and parents of children admitted to DAV Vedanta International School, handed over memoranda requesting him to prevent permanent closure of the plant.
The 121 families, mostly belonging to the tribal community, stated that they were happy in Niyamgiri Vedanta Nagar. Despite being uneducated, their children could dream of becoming professionals because of the plant.
“If the Vedanta plant closes down, Lanjigarh will again go back to the old days when it was known for malnutrition, poverty, malarial deaths, cholera, diarrhoea, lack of education and infrastructure and our children will be uneducated,” the memoranda said. They also added that after temporary closure of the plant, thousands of local people lost their jobs and their livelihood was snapped.
Parents of children studying at the DAV Vedanta International School were also apprehensive that the closure will affect education of their wards since the company bears education costs.
Vedanta Alumina closed down its one million tonne capacity alumina refinery at Lanjigarh on December 5 due to shortage of bauxite.
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