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Balco workers reject appeal to maintain plant

Striking employees of the recently privatised Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco) on Wednesday rejected the management's appeal to provide workers to maintain the smelter at its plant in Korba, an official said.

"The situation is becoming serious by the hour. The metal is slowly solidifying in the pots and if that happens it will cause severe damage to the smelter," Sahir Ahmed, Balco's general manager for personnel and administration, told Reuters.

Ahmed said the management had appealed to trade unions to provide 191 workers for each eight-hour shift to maintain the plant. "We urgently need people but unions have refused."

More than 4,000 workers have been on strike at the Korba plant since the weekend after the government sold a controlling 51 per cent stake in Balco to copper and aluminium maker Sterlite Industries Ltd.

Balco runs a 200,000-tonne-per-annum alumina plant, a 100,000-tonne aluminium smelter and a 40,000-tonne hot and cold rolling mill at the plant.

Ahmed said there were 475 officers and 50 workers inside the plant and shortage of labourers was affecting maintenance.

The financial loss to the company due to the strike was estimated at between Rs 15-20 million a day.

Officials said once the smelter was closed, it would not be possible to restart it immediately and would cost at least Rs 400 million.

The company has also shut down three units of the power plant because consumption has drastically fallen due to the closure of the smelter, Ahmed said.

Officials had earlier said the strike had hit aluminium production but was unlikely to affect the country's long-term supplies. They said daily aluminium output loss because of the strike was about 270-285 tonnes.

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