Representatives of Nalco Officers’ Association BC Ray, PK Mallick, CR Bisoi, Banamali Sethy, SN Sahu and Arun Sahu met three Union Ministers and discussed various issues related to the Nalco in the presence of former Rajya Sabha MP Rudranarayan Pani recently.
The team first met Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and apprised him about Nalco growth and expansion issues. They informed that the Odisha Government was yet to allocate the Patangi bauxite mines to the Nalco.
Similarly, they urged Pradhan to take steps for allocation of Utkal-D coal block along with Utkal-E coal to Nalco so that two more units of the power plant can be set up as Independent Power Plants (IPPs).
Stating that Nalco procures Rs400-crore worth petroleum products from oil PSUs, the representatives requested Pradhan to see that good quality and desired quantity of CP Coke, Heavy Fuel Oil and light Diesel Oil are supplied to Nalco’s smelter, CPP and refinery units so that the cost of production would be lessened.
The team called on Union Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in the evening. Tomar was apprised about issues like pension, PRP and DPC. The team requested the Minister to pay a visit to Angul plant. The team also met Mines Ministry Secretary Anup Kumar Pujari on the same issues.
At last the team called on Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha and urged him expedite the proposed Railway Passenger Halt at Nalconagar, which has been pending since the year 2005. The Nalco has deposited Rs26 lakh with the East Cost Railway for the purpose. Sinha assured the team he would expedite the process for construction of the passenger halt at the earliest.