BHUBANESWAR | Aug 30, 2015: Vedanta authorities on Saturday said the company would review its decision on closure of its Lanjigarh plant only if the state government solves the raw material problem in the shortest possible time.

"We have communicated our decision to the state government and requested it to arrange raw material for the plant immediately. Otherwise, we would be forced to shut down the plant," chief operating office of the plant K K Dave told TOI after a meeting with steel and mines minister Prafulla Mallik here.

The meeting came a day after the BJD MLAs from Kalahandi district sought chief minister Naveen Patnaik's intervention to sort out the raw material crisis in the plant. The state government has decided to hold a meeting on this soon.

Sources said the state government assured the company to supply raw material (bauxite) to the plant through Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC).

"Supplying bauxite through OMC would not be possible before two to three years because statutory clearances are required for mining. Mutually, we would find some solution to ensure supply of raw material to the plant," said Mallik.

The company has informed that the plant is operating with a daily loss of Rs 3 crore. In December 2012, the company had temporarily shut down its plant due to lack of raw material. After a closure of around seven months, the plant was partially reopened in July 2013.

Since then, the company was running its refinery at Lanjigarh by sourcing bauxite from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, official sources said.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)