Nalco strike over selloff

The production of aluminium in Nalco's smelter plant at Angul in Orissa today came to a standstill with thousands of employees going on strike to protest against the Centre's decision to divest 10 per cent stake of the company.

The employees, however, have allowed the captive power plant of the Angul unit to run, enabling the authorities to keep the aluminium potline of the smelter alive.

Breakdown in power supply to the potline, sources said, would cause serious damage to the pots, jeopardising restart of the aluminium-making operations.

"The aluminium production from the smelter plant has stopped. We have made temporary arrangements to keep the potline alive," U B Patnaik, executive director in charge of Angul smelter plant, said.

Nalco's Angul smelter produces about 950 tonnes of finished aluminium metal everyday. Patnaik, however, added that the strike was peaceful and there had been no damage to the plant and machinery.

For supply of power to the pots, the employees had agreed to allow 153 executive rank officers and 106 casual workers to run six captive power units, which produce around 650 mw power.

The total number of employees in the Nalco's Angul smelter is 4,500, of which 1,100 are in the executive rank and the rest are workers. They went on strike this morning to protest against the Centre's decision to offload 10 per cent stake in the company.

Protests were also staged at Nalco's refinery unit at Damanjodi in Koraput district, over 500 km south of Bhubaneswar, officials said. The employees and peripheral development associations are spearheading the strike at Damanjodi.

President of the Nalco Employees Federation of India, Shibaji Patnaik, told reporters that today's strike was a token measure to demonstrate opposition to the disinvestment. The agitation would be intensified further if the government did not withdraw the move, he warned.