A major tragedy struck a plant of the Vedanta group

TRAGEDY: People gather at the accident site in Korba, some 200 km from Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on Wednesday.

KORBA (CHHATTISGARH): At least 20 labourers were killed and nearly 70 are feared trapped under debris after a chimney at an under-construction thermal power plant of the Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO) caved in here on Wednesday.

At least 25 people were crushed to death when an under-construction chimney at a new power plant being constructed at Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco) in Korba, 230 km from here, collapsed on Wednesday afternoon. Another 40 people are feared trapped in the debris.

Vedanta

In 1976, attracted by a rich deposit of 213 million tonnes of bauxite under a laterite soil cover of 3-4 metres in the Gandamardan hills, BALCO applied to the department of mining and geology, Orissa, for a lease of 3,584 ha. In 1981, it got permission to mine over 36 sq km. With an original investment plan of Rs 31.2 crore, BALCO began work. The initial protest was sparked by outrage

On May 2, 1983, despite the sweltering heat and the unrelenting pressure of examinations, students of Anchal College, Padampur, pelted stones at the motorcade carrying the Union minister for mines, the chief minister of Orissa and the state's industries minister. The three were on their way to inaugurate a mining project at Gandhamardan.

One of the largest aluminium producers in the country with a market share of more than 30 per cent, Balco is poised to play a significant role in the context of globalisation. The company has achieved a dramatic surge in productivity and profit within a short span of five years from 2001when Sterilite took over the PSU.