Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Now you know why Mittal is pushing so hard in Jharkhand

ArcelorMittal Drops After Third-Quarter Profit Misses Estimates

By Thomas Biesheuvel

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, dropped the most in four months in Amsterdam trading after third-quarter profit missed analyst estimates as demand remained depressed in Europe.

Operating income plus depreciation, impairment expenses and exceptional items was $1.59 billion, Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal said today in a statement. That missed the $1.78 billion median of 15 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The company forecast fourth-quarter operating income at $2 billion to $2.4 billion. The stock fell as much as 6.4 percent.

"We see some more downside to our 2009 forecasts," said Rochus Brauneiser, an analyst at Kepler Equities in Frankfurt who has a "buy" recommendation on the shares.

Steelmakers around the world have cut production and jobs in the past year after usage tumbled. Demand in Europe, which is ArcelorMittal's biggest market, dropped 32 percent in the third quarter compared with a year earlier and the market is "stuck in slow motion," industry group Eurofer said last week.

The shares fell 50.5 cents, or 2.1 percent, to 23.995 euros in Amsterdam trading at 9:53 a.m. in Amsterdam. Earlier they traded at 22.94 euros, the biggest intraday decline since June 22. The stock has increased 41 percent this year, valuing the company at 37.4 billion euros ($55.4 billion).

Other steelmakers have suffered from the collapse in demand. U.S. Steel Corp., the largest U.S. producer, yesterday posted its third consecutive loss. Tata Steel Ltd., India's largest steelmaker, missed analyst estimates after saying yesterday second-quarter profit slumped 50 percent.

Output Curtailments

ArcelorMittal cut output as much as 50 percent earlier in 2009, fired workers, and sold shares and bonds to refinance borrowings. Fourth-quarter steel capacity utilization will be about 70 percent, which compares with 61 percent in the third quarter and 50 percent in the second, Chief Financial Officer Aditya Mittal told reporters on a conference call.

"We have seen the first signs of recovery in the third quarter," Chief Executive Officer Lakshmi Mittal said in the statement. "We should continue to see further gradual improvement through 2010, although the operating environment remains challenging."

The plunge in global steel demand has ended and usage will grow by 9.2 percent next year as automakers and builders recover, the World Steel Association said earlier this month. ArcelorMittal said in July it would restart blast furnaces in Belgium, France, and Spain as customers rebuilt inventories.

Price Gains

The company posted third-quarter net income of $903, or 60 cents a share, after a $899 million tax gain. That compares with $3.82 billion, or $2.78, a year earlier.

The cost of hot-rolled coil, a benchmark steel product used in cars and construction, gained 16 percent in the third quarter, the steepest increase in 15 months, according to data compiled by Metal Bulletin. Steel coil, which currently fetches 415 euros a metric ton, has dropped 38 percent from a year earlier after the global economy contracted.

The company amended terms on $31 billion of facilities in July allowing net debt to rise to 4 1/2 times its Ebitda, from a limit of 3 1/2 previously.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Tribes Stall Steelmakers in India : More like Tribals fight for their existence

NEW DELHI—Steel companies have pledged billions of dollars to expand in India, but they are struggling to secure the land they need in two mineral-rich states because of fierce opposition from local tribes and slow-moving governments.

The standoffs in the northeastern states of Orissa and Jharkhand have hit two of the world's top five steel producers, ArcelorMittal and Posco, and are threatening to stall a key driver of India's industrial activity in the years ahead. According to the steel ministry, projects worth $82 billion are being held up because of delays related to land acquisition and environmental clearances.

Adivaasi, Moolvaasi, Astitva Raksha Manch

Tribes in India have opposed steelmakers acquiring land for new projects. A protest last year against a planned ArcelorMittal plant in Jharkhand.

"India will face severe problems in expanding its steel-production capacity if the land-acquisition problem isn't dealt with soon," said N. K. Patnaik, executive director (Orissa), Uttam Galva Steels Ltd., an Indian steelmaker.

Companies bet that India's demand for steel will grow more than 10% a year in the next decade, led by India's gradual emergence as an auto-making hub. State and private spending on power plants, bridges, ports and a slew of low-cost housing projects are also expected to keep steel demand rising.

Land acquisition for new plants has been a problem for years as state governments and manufacturers seek to move farmers and others who live off the land to make way for industrial expansion.

About 66% of India's 275 million tons of new steel capacity in the next decade is expected to come in Orissa and Jharkhand, according to government data, because of the abundance of iron ore, coal and water, which are essential for setting up a steel plant. Few other states offer such possibilities, so shifting elsewhere is extremely difficult.

But nowhere has the land acquisition sparked as much anger and protest as in the two impoverished states, where a large portion of the population consists of tribal groups. These groups, often with the backing of activists and left-wing political organizations, have succeeded in halting land acquisition for several mining and industrial projects.

The issue attracted renewed focus recently after Lakshmi Mittal, chief executive of the world's largest steel producer, ArcelorMittal, vented his frustration over progress on new, or greenfield, projects earlier this month.

"The company continues to work on its two greenfield projects in Jharkhand and Orissa. However, in the event that land acquisition continues to prove difficult, we will start to search for alternate sites in India for our greenfield projects," Mr. Mittal said in a statement.

South Korea's Posco signed a deal with the Orissa government in June 2005 to set up a 12-million-ton-a-year steel plant but has yet to begin construction. "We are willing to offer both financial compensation and employment in our project," said Posco's general manager in India, S. K. Mohapatra. The company's projection is that plant construction could be completed by 2014.

Dayamani Barla, a prominent tribal activist in Jharkhand, says tribal identity is linked to land, forest and water, and once tribal people are displaced, their cultural and social identity would be destroyed. "Tribals can't live without the forest or without farming," she said. "Our battle is for saving our environment, forests, culture and social values."

Ms. Barla is the founder of the protest movement, Adivasi Moolvasi Astitva Raksha Manch (Indigenous Peoples Survival Forum), which has led protests against ArcelorMittal's proposed steel plant in the state of Jharkhand.

"Instead of destroying our forests, polluting rivers and destroying homes, the government should evolve policy to give only wastelands to industrial projects, so no conflict rises," she added.

Miners have been targeted too. The most vocal protest has been by Dongria Kondh, a tribal group in Orissa, protesting against the bauxite mines of Vedanta Resources in the Niyamgiri Hills of the state. In Jaduguda in Jharkhand, protests also have erupted over uranium mining.

In the face of angry protests, state governments consider it politically risky to push through projects. Many of the tribal groups live in forests, which are state property, but since they have lived there for centuries, governments don't want to antagonize them by forced eviction.

In September 2008, three land surveyors of Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd. were beaten up and their faces smeared with cow dung by villagers for conducting a land survey in Jharkhand for the company's proposed steel and power projects. Last year, hundreds of tribal members assembled near the proposed site of an ArcelorMittal steel plant chanting slogans such as "Go back Mittal."

"The tribal groups are not going to give up their land for any industrial project, be it Mittal or anyone else," said Dilip Minz, an activist with the Jharkhand Mines Area Coordination Committee. "Forced eviction of tribal population for industrial projects causes cultural, social and political damage to tribal populations that are very hard to repair."

Many locals are suspicious after past projects failed to adequately compensate landholders for their eviction, making it difficult for companies now to persuade them to relinquish land even with offers of compensation and employment. "The people in the state are upset about being underpaid in past industrial projects," said N.N. Sinha, Jharkhand's industries secretary.

While several industrial projects do offer jobs to one member of a tribal family, widespread illiteracy and lack of skills, other than farming, among tribal groups mean a small portion of them get jobs in factories. Most factory jobs are filled by nontribals living in small towns or larger villages, where education and skills training is more available.

Prafulla Samantara, secretary of the Lok Shakti Abhijan (Peoples Power Movement), which is protesting against steel projects being set up in Orissa, said, "People oppose land acquisition because they have seen what happens when people give up lands. They are starving and living on the street."

He said that tribals don't stand any chance of getting jobs in the new steel or other industrial projects being set up in the state. "How can the people benefit from industrialization, when they can't even read A,B,C,D?" he said.

Local governments also now get involved to vet terms, creating multiple layers of bureaucracy. "Since there were complaints of earlier deals undervaluing land, all matters related to land acquisition have to be approved by the district administration," said Tuhin K Mukherjee, executive director of JSW Steel Ltd., one of the India's largest steel companies. "Matters...often move back and forth in as many as 60 to 70 layers of bureaucracy."

A. M. R. Dalwai, secretary of Orissa's department of steel and mines, adding that apart from the challenge of persuading local landowners, environmental clearance for mega steel projects also takes time. He said private companies needed to step up efforts to persuade local landowners to give up their land for industrial projects.

Some projects are moving forward. Bhushan Steel, a midsize Indian company, is ready to begin commercial production of its five million tons a year plant in Orissa over the next few months, after acquiring land in Orissa in 2005.

Write to Prasenjit Bhattacharya at prasenjit.bhattacharya@dowjones.com and Sahil Mahtani at sahil.mahtani@dowjones.com

Tuesday, October 20, 2009


PUBLIC HEARING WITHOUT THE PUBLIC by Shriprakash





PUBLIC HEARING WITHOUT THE PUBLIC

UCIL'S 2009 EXPANSION PLANS

 

The much-awaited public hearing by the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) is over.  There were lots of public and there were also lots of policemen and members of different security forces.  For every one person not in uniform, there was one person from the forces in uniform, some wielding batons, others with rifles and some in riot gear.  UCIL has about 2000 permanent workers and nearly 1000 people who are either on casual or temporary employment.  So the total number of beneficiaries is about 3000, if you add the other members in the families of the beneficiaries, then UCIL family has more than 15,000 people.  Though most of the workers are exposed to dangerous levels of radiation, most of them consider themselves fortunate and lucky.  That is quite expected in a country where the wage rates/returns in farming is very low and there is not any other job opportunity.

 

Yesterday 200 villagers of Matigoda entered the UCIL premises and started ploughing the land.  Even though the land was acquired long back, the villagers were paying the tax.  They were not paid any compensation.  Nobody got a job either. The situation became tense. They were invited for a negotiation after few hours. They were taken to the local police station.  The meeting lasted for a few hours and ended with some promises, but no document was signed.

 

The public hearing was held in the private land of UCIL, near the camp of the Central Industrial Security Forces. Early morning, hundreds of UCIL workers and other beneficiaries had occupied the chairs kept in the hall for the public hearing.  The real public, who have lost their lands for the mines and whose health has been damaged due to radiation, had no place in the entire process. 

 

The hearing was held to get the peoples' consent for a capacity addition of 20% (from current 2020 tpd to 2500 tpd or uranium ore to be milled) and for another tailing pond to house the radioactive mill tailing.  The total tailing that will be let off in the pond will be about 850,000 tons per year.  About 15 acres of forest land has also been sought for these.  UCIL got all what they sought.

 

UCIL sponsored group carrying different banners supporting UCIL and its activities came and entered in the venue and placed their banners. Some of these banners were carried by small children, who did not understand the meaning of what was written on them.  One banner carried by the supporters read: "when compared with hunger, pollution is a small issue.  Save UCIL".

 

When JOAR and other groups carrying their banner trying to enter the venue, UCIL supporters man-handled, few women  activist were beaten up and Pargana  Charan Murmu was pushed away. He and some others fell down.  Police and other security forces were mute spectators to this denial of a place to sit and air their grievances.  Finally, the company supporters and the forces pushed the villagers out of the hall.

 

No one was allowed to enter the hall and allow to speck, in this situation JOAR and other organization decided to boycott the public hearing. We also joined them with shouting slogan – "public hearing is farce"- "stop false public hearing"-" land water and forest is ours"   we came out and sat for a Dharna. 

 

UCIL succeeded in convincing the workers that those who were critical of the project were working towards closing down the mining and milling activities in Jadugoda.  The slogans shouted by the workers and other beneficiaries and the placards they were carrying all said about saving UCIL.  Incidentally, the critics position that they are demanding safe operations for workers, people in the neighborhood and the ecop-system was unheard. 

 

Around 11 AM, the General Manager of UCIL read out a document listing the details of the project.  The GM appeared like reading from a science text book.  There were technical terms like Becquerel, in his speech.  A journalist who was covering the event asked one of us: what does a Becquerel mean?  The presentation by the general manger lasted for about 30 minutes.  After this, the organizers announced the names of the speakers from the 'public'.  Everybody was unanimous on one issue – UCIL provides jobs, food, clothing and houses.  All talks about radiation is anti-national propaganda.  UCIL has to be protected at any cost.  There is no need to hear any viewpoint which is against the interests of the company.

 

JOAR and other organizations fighting on environmental issues related to radiation, livelihood issues related to loss of land due to mines and contamination of farmlands and water bodies decided to boycott the drama called public hearing, as there was no possibility of presenting the view of the affected people.  Ghanashyam Biruli, Dumka Murmu and Charan Murmu of JOAR briefed the press.  Among their demands are (a) no new uranium mine  (b) bring the existing mine under the international safety guide lines (c) return of tribal land acquired earlier, but not utilized for mining (d) provide livelihood and rehabilitation to the displace people.(f) clean up of the contamination (g) an independent study about the environmental contamination and health effects among the people (h) continuous monitoring of the water bodies to ensure that the radionuclides do not seep into the aquifer, the life line of more than 100,000 people.  The activists also reiterated their position that there is no compelling need to expand the capacity of UCIL as the country can now buy uranium from international market.

 

 

Ghanshyam Biruli, President JOAR                   

 

Dumka Murmu, Secretary JOAR

 

Charan Murmu, Pargana

 

VT Padmanabhan, Genetic Epidemiologist, Bangalore

 

Dr Meher Engineer, Physicist, Ex Director, Bose Institute, Calcutta

 

Pradip Dutta, Writer and People Science Activist, Calcutta

 

Shriprakash, Film maker, Ranchi

 

Note- Please find attachments of comment on the EIA/EMP reports and some pic of hearing

 

 

 




Mittal, Jharkhand is for Adivasis...leave us alone


Mital stop doing your drama


Gumla rally against Mittal!


Mittal go back , go back!!



We shall fight and win but won't give land


Mittal, we know how to tackle you...



Mittal leave us alone!


Seriously, Mittal go back..


Mittal, go back...


Mittal, where are you?


Mittal are you listening?


Thursday, October 15, 2009

U.K. Agency: Vedanta Project Violates OECD Standards: Now even UK is talking about standards :)



LONDON -- A U.K. government agency said Vedanta Resources PLC violated international standards when it failed to respect the rights of an indigenous group when planning a bauxite mine in the Indian state of Orissa.

"Vedanta failed to put in place an adequate and timely consultation mechanism fully to engage the Dongria Kondh, an indigenous community who would be directly affected by the environmental and health and safety impact of its plans to construct a bauxite mine in the Niyamgiri Hills, Orissa," the U.K. National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises said in a statement Monday.

The agency, part of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, promotes voluntary guidelines for multinational companies adopted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Vedanta rejected the agency's conclusions.

"Vedanta refutes the conclusions of the U.K. NCP and has complied in all respects with the required Indian regulations including consultations with the local community and committed to work closely for the development in the areas of health, education and livelihood," the company said in a statement.

The U.K. office recommended that Vedanta "immediately and adequately engage with the Dongria Kondh, on the construction of the bauxite mine" and that it should include a human and indigenous rights impact assessment in its project management process.

The OECD Guidelines are not legally enforceable on businesses, but OECD members are committed to raising awareness of the Guidelines and implementing the Guidelines' complaint procedure, the agency said.

Vedanta is a FTSE 100 company registered in the U.K. Its subsidiary Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. has won Indian court approval to proceed with the project.

The company is awaiting a permit from the Indian government before commencing mining operations in Orissa. Last week it said it expected final approval by March and to begin operations soon after.

The bauxite from the mine will feed the company's new alumina refinery at Lanjigarh.

Survival International, an international organization that support tribal groups, filed a complaint under the guidelines in December, 2008, triggering the start of the complaint procedure by the U.K. National Contact Point.

Vedanta's proposed mine site is sacred to the Kondh people, hundreds of whom have been engaged in months of protests and blockades against the mine, Survival said.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

State will not lose, others ready to step in, says Governor

State will not lose, others ready to step in, says Governor


RANCHI: Governor K Sankaranarayanan on Tuesday said the state would not lose if investors decided to leave Jharkhand.  This  comes within days of ArcelorMittal saying the company would look for alternate sites elsewhere in India if land acquisition for its greenfield projects in Jharkhand and Orissa continued to prove difficult. 

"If one investor decides to move out, there are others who would be interested," the governor told ToI while ruling out that the 12 million tonne greenfield project would be shifted from Jharkhand. 

"Why should the steel company decide to shift its project from Jharkhand if a positive dialogue is held between the company and the villagers, who have to give their land for the project," he said, adding that a meaningful discussion should be held to end the stalemate. "Villagers, who own the land, first have to agree to part with it," the governor added. 

"However, if the company still decides to shift how can I help it?" he asked. The governor said the vice-president of ArcelorMittal had recently met him and conveyed that the company had no intention of withdrawing as of now. 

Sankaranarayanan, however, expressed the inability to speed up the process of land acquisition for the project, saying only an elected government could do so. "It is a long-drawn procedure and since President's Rule in the state expires in January next year, the acquisition process would not reach a logical conclusion." 

The state industry department, however, has taken a serious view of the steel giant's conditional consent to set up its project in the state and asked the Khunti district administration to apprise it of the exact status of land acquisition. 

Anti-displacement outfits in the state, led by activist Dayamani Barla, have promised not to allow Mittal to set foot on tribal agricultural land identified by the company at Torpa in Khunti district. ArcelorMittal's corporate communication officials, though, declined to comment on the matter.

Monday, October 5, 2009

ArcelorMittal statement



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sanganeria, Sunanda <Sunanda.Sanganeria@arcelormittal.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 4:17 PM
Subject: ArcelorMittal statement
To: basu.moushumi@gmail.com, moushumi.basu@rediffmail.com


 

Following the article on ArcelorMittal's investment plans for India in the Financial Times today, please find below a new statement from Mr. Mittal below to clarify our position and reiterate our commitment to India –

 

"ArcelorMittal has no plans to quit India. India is an important country for steel demand growth and is an important part of ArcelorMittal's long-term strategic plans. The company continues to work on its two Greenfield projects in Jharkhand and Orissa. However in the event that land acquisition continues to prove difficult, we will start to search for alternate sites in India for our Greenfield projects."  - LN Mittal

 

Regards,

Sunanda

 

Sunanda Sanganeria I Corporate Communications

ArcelorMittal India Limited

 

6th Floor, M-6 Plaza, Jasola District Centre

New Delhi - 110025, India

 

T - + 91 99101 11453  I F + 91 1146759491 

E - sunanda.sanganeria@arcelormittal.com

www.arcelormittal.com

 

P  Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. ArcelorMittal encourages environmental awareness

 

 




UPDATE: Mittal may exit Orissa, J'khand plans over delays: Please leave us alone Mr. Mittal, Thank you!

UPDATE: Mittal may exit Orissa, J'khand plans over delays
Press Trust of India / London/ Ranchi October 5, 2009, 14:59 IST

ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel maker, has threatened to abandon its $20 billion steel projects in two Indian states over delays, but one of the states said that progress was indeed plagued by gaps in communication.


Shortly after the merger of Mittal Steel with Arcelor in 2006, Mittal had announced plans for a 12-mtpa steel plant in Orissa and thereafter an identical project in Jharkhand. But work on acquiring land for the projects hit a wall of opposition from locals."If we cannot make progress in these two sites we will have to abandon the idea of starting the projects there and look for other places in India for our expansion," ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal told British dailyFinancial Times.

"The government can facilitate a dialogue... But the steel company has to purchase land from the villagers by winning their confidence... It seems there is a big communication gap between ArcelorMittal and the villagers" Jharkhand's Industry Director Aradhana Patnaik said.

The newspaper quoted Mittal as saying that the delays in persuading farmers and others to sell the land required for building the plants were "unacceptable" to the company.

Though the preparatory work has been under way for two years, the financial effect of abandoning the plants would be "negligible" since no land had so far been acquired and no building work has been done, Mittal added.

"The company has to come forward and convince the villagers that the plant will bring jobs, hospitals, educational institutes, roads and development of their villages," Patnaik said.

She cited the examples of Tata Steel, Electro Steel, Jindal Steel and Power Limited, which have acquired private land at their own initiative.

ArcelorMittal had planned to invest Rs 42,000 crore for a 12-mtpa greenfield steel plant and had identified land in the villages of Khunti and Gumla in mineral-rich Jharkhand.

Authorities in Jharkhand have reportedly identified 1,015 acre government land in Gumla for the steel major.

On Saturday, a group headed by Adivasi-Moolvasi Raksha Manch Convenor Dayamani Barla, had submitted a memorandum to the director stating that they would not 'budge an inch from their ancestral land'.

The Manch had claimed that the land falling under Kamdara (Gumla), Torpa (Khunti) blocks was covered under the Chhotnagapur Tenancy Act which protects tribal land from sale.

"Lakshmi Mittal is close to pulling out of a $20 billion plan to build two large steel plants in India the centrepiece of efforts by one of the world's most prominent industrialists to expand in the country of his birth," the Financial Times said.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

VEDANTA'S KILLER CHIMNEY AT KORBA -- A BRIEF REPORT


 

Brief Preliminary Report
 
on
Vedanta's Killer Chimney

at KORBA in Chhattisgarh, India

 

 
A group of Journalists, social activists, Trade Union leaders and activists, Human Rights Activists, Advocates etc from all over the state visited Vedanta owned Balco on a fact finding mission in to the under construction 220 meter high chimney that collapsed killing many workers.

 

 
The team members met the General Manager cum PRO of Balco who tried to impress upon the members of the fact finding team that it was an unusual incident in which due to lightning that is not seen in the area since last about 26-30 year because of which the chimney collapsed at about 4 PM of 23rd Sept, 09. He was very much sure that there are no more dead bodies as the removal of the debris has reached to the ground level and as such there was no need to do any further digging. He also added that even District collector Mr. Agarwal also agreed to them and ordered to stop the rescue work at about 12 noon of 28-09-2009. He stated that in all 41 dead bodies have been found which are sent to their homes. On asking the list of the workers who were at the site at the time of accident, his reply was not satisfactory as he tried to put the ball in the court of SEPCO and GDCL. Not a single officer of SEPCO or GDCL was available as all of them fled away immediately of the accident taking place. Even the names and addresses of the workers whose dead bodies have been sent home was not available with him, since they were very busy with relief and rescue work from the moment the accident took place. He stated that we wanted to inspect the accident site where he arranged the company photographer to take us to the site of accident.

 

One staff of the company escorted us from one gate to another where our entry was denied. The effort of the staff was falling on deaf ears of the security staff of the company at the gates that were heavily guarded by the armed state police personnel. It took almost one and half hour before finally we were allowed to go in side the campus thanks to the company staff who did his best to convince those officers to let us go in. After crossing the main gate, there was another gate that was under the guard of the security services of the company.

 

Finally when we reached the site of accident, we found that few police officers and staff were busy in fixing tapes to cordon off the area where heaps of rubbish of cement concrete and iron rods entangled with each other were seen. We are of the opinion that the time of one and half hour was taken so as show off that the area is sealed and that no activity is allowed there.

 

We interacted with some of the workers who have seen with their own eyes the sudden collapse of the 220-meter high chimney that was under construction. As per their statement, chimney, which has a 60 meters or more diameter at the base, sank down in the soil all of a sudden, split apart and collapsed. All happened within one and half minute blowing cement dust in that area. Rains were there but the lightning of the magnitude that the company claims is totally ruled out. We also interacted with the trade union leaders, Journalists at Korba who had covered the news by visiting the site since the incident happened. We came to know that all the staff of GDCL, SEPCO and Balco has run away from the site and were not seen at the site.

 

We tried to contact District Collector and also Superintendent of Police but were not available. We were surprised to note that not a single arrest has been made till now, though under Factories Act, the occupier and the owner of the company are to be arrested immediately. 

 

The interim report will be published soon before we come out with a final report. However, in the mean time, I am to state that the fact-finding team is of the firm opinion that there were minimum 180 workers working within the chimney at the top and at the base. There were about 60 outside at 3 stores and one canteen. There was one hydra and a miller machine that was also covered under the debris. Only top of the hydra machine was visible.

 

The chimney has sunk below the soil where in the base there were almost 100 workers but that portion which has sunk is not excavated. There is every chance of many more dead bodies than that of what has been found so far. There were 12 Benches  within the walls of chimney at the base where in each bench machine 3 workers were working and about 25 workers were supplying them the material.

 

The statement of Vedanta P.R.O. is false, misleading and an effort to hide the truth to save their skin. There is an urgent need to excavate the entire area over which the base was constructed. The lightning theory put forward by Vedanta is also ruled out.  The interim report will carry more details. Role of district administration so far leads us to believe that a hand in glove approach exists between them and the Vedanta management. There is a strong need for an impartial inquiry at the earliest.

 

Pravin Patel

Human Rights Activist

Member- Fact Finding team
on Vedanta's chimney disaster