Vedanta Aluminium gets village's nod to expand refinery.

India's Vedanta Aluminium, controlled by billionaire Anil Agarwal, moved closer to raising its alumina refining capacity by six fold from 1 million tonnes per year (tpy) after villagers near the plant voiced no objection to the expansion.

Most of the nearly 2,000 people present recently at the public hearing in Biswanathpur village of Odisha state were 'OK' with the project to expand the refinery, said B. K. Upadhyaya, the top bureaucrat of the district where the village is located.

Vedanta Aluminium has been struggling to source sufficient bauxite to feed the 1 million tpy alumina refinery since its commissioning in August 2007.

It has been buying bauxite from other states as well as importing more than 1 million tpy of alumina. Plans to mine bauxite in Odisha for the alumina refinery are on hold because of opposition from other nearby communities.

Upadhyaya will now send a report on the Biswanathpur hearing to the state government, which will in turn make its recommendation to the federal government.

ET