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Stop all Vedanta operations: NCP

BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa government should cancel all its agreements with Vedanta Alumina Limited and impose a ban on the Vedanta Group’s operations in the State, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) demanded on Monday.

Former Minister and senior leader of NCP in the State Bijoy Mohapatra said at a press conference that the company should be asked to wind up its activities since the Supreme Court had questioned its credentials in its order on November 23 and barred it from mining at Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi district.

Alleging that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had been showing undue favours to the company all these years, Mr. Mohapatra said time had come for Mr. Patnaik to stop behaving like a ‘paid employee of Vedanta’.

Meanwhile, Vedanta Alumina issued a clarification saying that the Supreme Court had not said ‘no’ to bauxite mining at Niyamgiri.

“The court has only desired that instead of Vedanta Aluminium Limited, its associate company Sterlite Industries India Limited (SIIL), can take up the mining project in collaboration with Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC), subject to compliance with certain conditions laid down by them,” the company said in a statement.

“This is because, the apex court feels that Sterlite Industries, listed with Indian Stock Exchanges and having sound financial credentials, is in a better position to do justice to the project and sub serve the developmental needs of that tribal majority area rather than Vedanta Aluminium, which is a relatively new entity and whose financial standing is not yet established,” the company clarified.

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