Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Srikant Jena on Monday questioned the State Cabinet’s recent nod to provide 35,000 tonnes of bauxite to the Vedanta Alumina limited (VAl) over 10 years.
“The Vedanta refinery has been stiffly opposed by tribals, but the Chief Minister is always trying to support it, the reason best known to him and his Government. The State would lose Rs1,000 per year, if the promised quantum of bauxite ore is given to the VAl,” Jena alleged at a Press meet here.
He said the Chief Minister has given an advance cheque of Rs10,000 crore for 10 years by promising to provie bauxite ore from the OMC’s Kodingamali mines for 10 years.
Jena demanded that OMC should establish a alumina refinery plant so that the revenue earned by the PSU would be used for welfare of Odisha people.
He demanded that the decision of providing bauxite to the Vedanta be withdrawn soon; otherwise, he warned that a mass agitation against the move would be launched in the State.