35 held for ransacking Vedanta office in Orissa
By IANSWednesday, September 1, 2010
BHUBANESWAR - At least 35 people were arrested Wednesday for ransacking the office of Vedanta Aluminium Limited in Orissa’s Kalahandi district, police said.
They were arrested for attacking the administrative office of the company at Lanjigarh, some 450 km from here, late Tuesday, Superintendent of Police Sudha Singh told IANS.
“They damaged the windows, furniture, computers and many other office items,” she said, adding that most of them are workers engaged in Vedanta’s construction activities.
“Police patrolling has been intensified in the area after the incident,” she added.
According to the police, trouble began after some contractors engaged in the construction work of the company told their workers that the expansion of the Vedanta project had been stopped and they don’t have any work in hand to keep them engaged.
According to Vedanta spokesman Pavan Kaushik, about 200 workers of sub-contractor Larsen & Toubro (L&T) were engaged in a discussion with the L&T management and insisted on the presence of Vedanta officials.
“The discussion was in progress and their meeting could not conclude as the Labour Commissioner could not attend the meeting” Kaushik said in a statement, adding at suddenly around 11 p.m., a group of about 100 people forcibly entered the plant premises and started ransacking the administrative office of Vedanta Aluminium Ltd.
“Property worth a crore of rupees has been destroyed which includes computers, windows, furniture, glass cabins, photocopiers, and telephones,” he said.
The union environment and forests ministry had Aug 24 axed the Vedanta mining project in Niyamgiri hills located near its refinery, saying it will affect the tribals living in the area and the environment.
The company had stopped construction activities for its expansion after the ministry said that Vedanta had also not sought prior approval for expanding the refinery capacity to 6 million tonnes a year from 1 million tonnes.
Although Vedanta officials claimed they have not violated any law, the latest developments could hurt their ambitious plans, say experts.
