Nalco staff opposes alumina sale to Vedanta

　　Employees of Nalco here have threatened to launch protests against the reported move of the company to sell alumina to Vedanta Aluminium Limited.

　　Last week, a few employees under Nalco Sramik Congress Union organized a demonstration in front of the company's captive power plant. A day before the Aluminium Mazdoor Sangha had held demonstration in front of the smelter plant while another demonstration has been planned on May 3rd 2012 in front of Nalco's corporate office in Bhubaneswar.

　　Nalco produces 0.165 million tonne alumina at its Damanjodi plant. Of the total output its Angul smelter plant gets about 0.818 million tonne annually, while the rest is exported through London Metal Exchange. The Nalco authorities came under suspicion after its August 26th 2011 tender in which the company sought international bidders to sell nearly 300,000 tonnes of alumina.

　　As the product was meant for exports, the tender barred any domestic entity to participate. This was followed by the VAL chief executive director Mr Pramod Suri writing a letter to the secretary, ministry of mines, seeking permission to participate in the bidding. The VAL's smelter plant at Jharsuguda is facing problems in sourcing enough alumina to run it.

　　Nalco employees however smell a rat in the whole move. Mr Paresh Jena general secretary of Nalco Sramik Congress Union alleged that "If the Nalco management sells alumina to Vedanta or to any domestic firm the company will not only lose precious foreign exchange leading to fall in its profit, it would also pave the way for Nalco's privatization. We will not allow this to happen.”

　　Mr Gobinda Chandra Mishra VP of NSCU said that "VAL is a competitor for us. The deal would be unfair and not in the interest of Nalco. Angul's Nalco smelter plant consumes 2,200 tonne of alumina daily for its 840 pots and it would require 2600 tonne daily to run its 940 pots everyday."