Workers halt production at Nalco's Angul smelter

23 June 2006

Reacting to the clearance by the cabinet committee on economic affairs to the proposal for a 10-per cent disinvestments in National Aluminium Company's (Nalco), employees brought production at the public sector unit's Angul smelter to a complete halt on Friday as they went on a flash one-day strike in protest.

"We demand that the government withdraw its decision forthwith," CPI-M leader and NEFI president Shivaji Patnaik said. Other central trade unions are also expected to extend support to Nalco employees. Leaders of various central trade unions are meeting in Bhubhaneswar to chalk out future course of action.

The Angul plant has a capacity to produce 950-tonnes of aluminium per day and employs 4,500 of Nalco's total workforce of 7,000. The rest are deployed at its bauxite mines and refinery located at Damanjodi in Koraput district.

The CITU-affiliated Nalco Employees Federation of India, which orchestrated the strike, demanded an immediate withdrawal of the government's plan to sell 10 per cent of its stake in the profit-making company.

The CPM-led Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), meanwhile, alleged that the decision to disinvest part of government stake in Nalco was influenced by finance minister P Chidambaram's Vedanta connection. The finance minister was on the board of the Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta Resources, which will benefit from Nalco sale, CITU said.

"The token strike is a warning to the government to go back on its decision. If the government does not relent, it will lead to a long drawn confrontation," Patnaik said.