In a letter to Odisha's Steel and Mines Secretary, Mukesh Kumar, President and COO of Vedanta Aluminium (VAL) requested urgent action to ensure bauxite supply to its Lanjigarh refinery.

The company asked the state government to ensure supply of bauxite to run the 1 mn tpa plant at Lanjigarh, which was closed on December 5, 2012.

In the letter, VAL chief reminded that the state government agreed to supply bauxite according to an MoU with the company on June 7, 2003, and amendment thereto on April 4, 2007.

Kumar said the company had been pleading for bauxite availability since a long time. On February 15, 2013, the company took the issue to the Ministerial Committee on mineral supply to local industries.

The overall economy of the region is affected by the closure of the plant as thousands of people have become jobless, Kumar said in the letter.

Recently, local people of Kalahandi and Rayagada districts submitted petitions demanding re-opening of the refinery. The affected people were also planning to meet Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in this regard, reports suggest.