Post on Medial

MEDIA IS SILENT: Vedanta’s grand aluminium plans are stuck with a big hurdle 📛📛 But, the company has reported nothing. And mainstream media has been silent about it too. The only reporting available is from small local and regional papers 🙏🙏 Here’s what you should know! .. Vedanta as a group already operates 4.1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) alumina refining capacity. -> This stood at 2.6 MTPA until March of this year (2 MTPA directly owned by Vedanta and 0.6 MTPA by BALCO in which it owns 51%) -> In April, it completed the expansion of its fully owned capacity from 2 MTPA to 3.5 MTPA. Big! -> And projects are underway to take BALCO to 1 MTPA & fully owned capacity to 5 MTPA by FY26 Thus, we are looking at 6 MTPA capacity by FY26-end. Great for India 🙏🙏 .. But, for its existing refining capacity, it is dependent on bauxite imports, and bauxite mined by state-owned Odisha Mining Corporation. -> Thus, the company has tried to acquire big mining blocks twice in the last 15yrs -> And both times, even though it was awarded big mines by the State Govt, local agitations & protests forced it to pull back 📛📛 And then, last year, it again won the rights to mine bauxite in Sijimali block which is spread over Odisha’s Rayagada & Kalahandi. .. Now, the history is again playing out the same way. -> The locals (majority tribals) have been absolutely against mining in the block which has an estimated 311 Million Tonnes of Bauxite -> Last year, in October, when the Govt held public hearings (a part of the environmental clearance process), things got so violent that the meeting was shut mid-way People alleged many of their key representatives were ABDUCTED by the police ahead of the meeting at the BEHEST of the company. They called out that Environmental Impact Assessment report did not mention varied species of plants, animals, birds, temples, and hundreds of water streams which exist on the Sijimali Hill 📛📛 .. Just days later, Vedanta filed 93 FIRs alleging its contractor’s employees on the ground were attacked and held hostage. -> This has only created more anger among the locals -> And our beloved mainstream business media never reported this 📛📛 .. Vedanta planned to mine a massive 9 MTPA out of that block to feed into its expanding refineries. But, with it all stuck the very same way as the last two times when it was awarded mines in Odisha, AT LEAST, the shareholders deserve to know the status update. All coverage, that exists, is from local or regional newspapers, which are only read by a few thousand, mostly locals. Kudos! .. I get it. Vedanta is a massive conglomerate, and as a group, it is a big client for the advertising incomes for the big media 🙏🙏 What do you think?