Vedanta Resources today said that a group of miscreants damaged property worth Rs. 1 crore at its plant premises at Lanjigarh, in Orissa, for which it has lodged an FIR with the local police station.
The miscreants had barged into the premises of Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) late last night after an inconclusive meeting between the L&T management and its sub-contractors at the project site, an official said. L&T is executing construction work on the project.
“About 200 workers of L&T sub-contractors were having discussion with L&T management in which they insisted for presence of Vedanta management. Around 11 pm, suddenly we found a group of about 100 people forcibly entering inside the plant premises, who started ransacking the administrative office of VAL, Lanjigarh,” the company said.
“Property worth a crore of rupees has been destroyed, which includes computers and servers, windows and furniture, glass cabins, photocopiers, telephones, etc. Vedanta has lodged an FIR in the local police station in this regard and the matter is being dealt firmly,” it added.
However, the statement is silent on reasons behind the attack. Asked about it, the official said the police was investigating the same.
Meanwhile, the company has extended thanks to the people of Lanjigarh, saying as soon as information of the attack reached the villagers, they came to the rescue of the VAL staff.
“When these miscreants were attacking, the message had spread in the nearby local Lanjigarh village from where hundreds of local people rushed to the site and helped in rescuing the plant and the people of VAL who were working in the office,” it said.
The company was recently halted by the government from mining bauxite at Niyamgiri, in Orissa, to feed its 1 million tonne alumina refinery at Lanjigarh, where capacity augmentation was planned at an investment of $ 1.7 billion.
The project was stopped for violating environment norms.
The company’s troubles seem to be far from over, with the Environment Ministry yesterday issuing a showcause notice to it for illegally expanding the capacity of the refinery and captive power plant in Orissa without clearance. The ministry has asked the company to submit its reply within a fortnight.
