Congress protest mars Balco green meeting

The mega expansion plan of the Vedanta-controlled Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO) ran into stiff resistance as activists of different organizations led by Congress leaders today staged vehement protest at a public hearing convened for the environment clearance of the Rs 8100-crore project.

The London-based Vedanta Group, which owns 51 per cent equity share and management control over BALCO in Korba district, inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chhattisgarh government in August this year to set up an additional capacity of 6.5 lakh tonnes per annum (tpa) smelter plant in its existing facility at Korba.

The company at present produces 3.5 lakh tpa aluminium and on completion of the expansion plan, the capacity will increase to 10 lakh tpa¿making BALCO the world's largest producer of aluminium from a single location.

The expansion project will cost Rs 8100 crore to the aluminium major.

The expansion plan came under public scanner when a large number of activists of unemployed, environment and other organizations led by Congress leaders turned up at the office premises of Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) where the public hearing was convened.

Following vehement protests, the public hearing could start about two hours late at about 11 a.m. "The activists lodged vehement protest and disrupted the official work; forcing the police authorities to remove them from the spot to start the proceedings," Korba superintendent of police Himanshu Gupta told Business Standard.

The police did not use force and removed the activists peacefully to ensure completion of the hearing, he said.

He added that three activists were arrested for obstructing official work.

The Congress leaders however claimed that the police resorted to lathi-charge and brutally bashed up the activists with the help of goons of BALCO management.

"They did not even spared women and brutally caned the peaceful protestors, injuring more than half a dozen," state Congress general secretary Jaisingh Agrawal-a resident of Korba-said.

Jaisingh said the youths activists of different organizations led by Congress' youth cell were staging peaceful demonstration, demanding preservation of environment and jobs for them in the company.

Without any warning, the police and goons resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the gathering that created tension in the area for a while, he added. Gupta clarified that the hearing was convened for environment clearance and the activists wanted discussion on employment that could not be entertained.

The BALCO management however played down the incident. "A few activists tried to disrupt the proceedings.

But they were removed and the hearing was completed without any problem," company's chief of communication R K Kher said.