News Analysis India

Tag: Vedanta

  • Vedanta Limited moves Supreme Court to continue making oxygen 

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Vedanta Limited on Friday approached the Supreme Court seeking its directions on continuing the operation of its plant in Thoothukudi for producing medical oxygen. 

    During the hearing, senior advocate Harish Salve, representing Vedanta in the case, mentioned the plea before the bench regarding the operation of the plant. However, the Tamil Nadu government, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, opposed the plea and said that the State currently has enough medical oxygen. 

    The court has decided to  take up the case for a detailed hearing on Friday. The issue came up in the court as the plant was previously allowed by the court to operate until July 31 only for the production of medical oxygen with no access to its copper and power plants within the premises in Tamil Nadu. 

    The Sterlite copper plant, which was closed down in May 2018 following protests by local residents of Thoothukudi, was granted this permission to mitigate the ballooning need for medical oxygen during the second wave of Covid-19 infections which hit the country earlier this year.

  • Covid crisis: Balco embraces smart technologies to combat challenges, boost productivity

    Express News Service
    RAIPUR: Driving innovations and infusing new capabilities at the workplace amid the pandemic, the Chhattisgarh-based Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco) has been one of the first companies to deploy a smart combination of high-end technology and indigenous innovations to ensure health and safety of employees. As a result, the organisation simultaneously maintained the continuity of business operations.

    “The safety and security of our people and assets are of paramount importance. Balco explored the field of smart technologies in its operational set-up. We are gearing-up as a future-ready organisation that can sustain production against all odds for a self-reliant India”, said Abhijit Pati, CEO & Director (Balco).

    For integrating smart automation in its plant operations and to cease any manual intervention, Balco has set up end-to-end ‘digital dashboards’ for real-time data and trend monitoring of power plant operations, ensuring digitisation of the entire process.

    Balco has also established a central control command room to avoid hampering of operations in case of any emergency due to the pandemic. There is an automated highly sophisticated centralised security operations centre (CSOC) put in place offering citing-edge solutions ranging from security analytics for incident detection to response on effective management of security resources to help in an agile decision making on the ground.

    Balco is further ensuring 24×7 helpdesk facility for Covid-19 support, responds to queries of their community members and provide swift services of medical team and ambulance in need. 

    London-based Vedanta Resources owns a 51 percent equity share and management control of Balco, remaining 49 percent remains with government of India.

  • SC terms COVID-19 situation ‘national emergency’, agrees to hear Vedanta plea of free oxygen supply

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday termed the COVID-19 situation as almost a “national emergency” while agreeing to hear Vedanta’s plea for opening of its Sterlite copper unit at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu on the ground that it would produce a thousand tonnes of oxygen and give it free of cost to treat patients.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde was unimpressed with the objection of Tamil Nadu government which initially sought hearing of Vedanta’s plea on Monday and opposed its opening on various grounds including that it has been rejected by the apex court earlier.

    ALSO READ | Saroj Hospital moves Delhi HC seeking immediate oxygen supply to seriously ill COVID-19 patients

    “We understand all this. We will ensure compliance of all environmental norms by the plant and its oxygen producing facility would be allowed to operate. We are on the oxygen plant,” the bench, also comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat, said when senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan for Tamil Nadu objected to the plea of the company.

    “There is almost a national emergency and you (Tamil Nadu) don’t put spokes in the solution. We will hear it (plea of Vedanta) tomorrow,” the bench said in the hearing conducted through video conferencing.

    “The country is in dire need of oxygen and the Centre is augmenting oxygen from whichever source. Vedanta wants to make its plant operational, but let Vedanta only make it operational to manufacture oxygen for health purposes,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said.

    “Between protecting the environment and protecting human life, we must lean in favour of protecting human life,” Mehta said.

    ALSO READ | COVID-19: Rajasthan govt sets up committee to monitor availability of oxygen cylinders, medicines

    Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Vedanta, sought urgent hearing of the plea during the day itself and said people are dying on daily basis and we can produce and supply oxygen to treat COVID-19 patients.

    “We can start in five to six days if you give a go-ahead today. The company can manufacture tonnes of oxygen there every day and is ready to supply them free of cost,” Salve said.

    The Tamil Nadu government, however, referred to the records and said no oxygen production can be started by the company before two to four weeks.

    The bench would hear the interim application on Friday.

    The copper unit was closed after a May 23, 2018 order by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board following violent protests against the unit which left 13 people dead in police firing.

  • Delhi HC sets aside single judge order asking Centre to extend Barmer oil field contract with Vedanta

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday set aside a single judge order directing the Centre to extend till 2030 its production sharing contract (PSC) with Vedanta Ltd and ONGC to produce oil from the Barmer oil field in Rajasthan.

    A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh allowed the central government’s appeal against the single judge’s order of May 31, 2018 order in favour of Vedanta, formerly Cairn India.

    The detailed judgement is yet to be uploaded on the high court’s website.

    The central government had claimed that the PSC with Vedanta will fall under the new policy for such contracts.

    The contention was opposed by the company.

    The single judge had held that Vedanta was entitled to extension of its contract, which was to expire in 2020, for a further period of 10 years on the same terms and agreements when it was first entered into in 1995.

    While the government’s appeal was pending, the PSC was being extended from time to time for brief periods since May 2020.

    The May 31, 2018 order had come on Vedanta’s plea for extension of the PSC which the company and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have with the government to extract oil from the Barmer block in Rajasthan.