Nalco staffs oppose alumina sale to Vedanta

The co-ordination committee of workers trade unions of National Alumunium Company (NALCO) has taken strong exception to the sale of alumina from Damanjodi unit of the company to Vedanta Aluminium.

It has asked the management of the public sector aluminium major to scrap the deal immediately. The coordination committee consisting of nine operating trade unions and the officers association was formed to spearhead anti-privatization stir earlier.

After a consultation meeting on the issue on Saturday, the committee has written a letter to the Nalco Chairman-cum- Managing Director urging him to stop sale of alumina to Vedanta Aluminium, a rival in the same business. It has sent the copies of the letter to the prime minister’s office among others.

According to the letter, it was an unusual decision on the part of Nalco to enter into an agreement with its competitor Vedanta Aluminium to supply 2000 tonne of alumina to Vedanta’s Jharsuguda smelter plant.

As per the agreement, Nalco, so far, has already supplied 240 tonne of alumina from its Damanjodi alumina refinery.

The coordination committee described the deal as unfair and unbecoming for Nalco to supply raw materials to its competitor in the private sector. It smelled a “conspiracy at the top over the deal”.

According to the coordination committee, the sale of alumina to Vedanta raised concern when there is a paucity of alumina stock at Nalco’s own smelter at Angul. Only five days’ stock of about 10,000 tonnes are available there against the normal stock of one month.

The Nalco smelter requires about 2000 tonnes of alumina daily at full capacity operation of the plant. The trade unions and officers association also regretted that Nalco has gone all the way to support the cause of one of its competitors, unmindful of its own requirement.

It may be noted that out of 15lakh tonne alumina produced from Nalco’s Damanjodi plant, about 50 per cent are marketed abroad while the remaining half is consumed at the company’s own smelter at Angul.

The bauxite mine of Nalco is to last only 15 year more and the company so far has not got any new mine though it has applied for a new mine to the state government. When bauxite mine is on the verge of depletion and alumina stock at its own smelter is extremely low, how could Nalco go ahead with sale of alumina to a private competitor, the committee members wondered.

On coal crisis gripping Nalco”s Captive Power plant at Angul, the committee asked the Nalco management and the ministry to carve out a concrete plan to ensure steady supply of coal to its power plant. The letter also warned Nalco management that if it did not stop selling alumina to Vedanta, the employees would go for a stir to protest the deal.