Bhubaneswar, August 08, 2007: National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) has sponsored 83 students for industrial training in the State run ITIs for the academic year 2007-08.
An agreement has been reached with the Director of Technical Education, Orissa, for the purpose. Under the agreement, NALCO would contribute Rs.35 lakh for fully-funded training of these students who come from land displaced families at Angul.
It may be mentioned here that so far NALCO has sponsored 461 wards of such displaced families, out of which 425 have been provided employment and absorbed in Company’s rolls.
In fact, NALCO has been playing a catalytic role in improving the quality of life of people living in the villages around its plants at Damanjodi and Angul. For setting up its huge integrated complex in 1981, 7420 acres of land was acquired at Damanjodi (4532 acres of private land and 2888 acres of govt. land) and 4457 acres at Angul (3824 acres of private land and 633 acres of govt. land).
As a result, 630 families in 51 villages were displaced – 596 families in Damanjodi sector and 34 families in Angul sector. Besides, 1473 families were substantially affected (i.e. parting with 1/3 or more land) in Angul sector, while no family was affected as such in Damanjodi sector.
Besides financial compensation, employment and rehabilitation packages, NALCO has been allocating 1% of its net profit of the year for social sector activities of the succeeding year. The Company also provides additional funds from time to time, with special approval of the Board.
Creation of infrastructure in the surrounding villages for communication, education, health care and drinking water gets priority in the periphery development plans of the Company. Community participation in innovative farming, pisciculture, social forestry and sanitation programmes apart, encouragement to sports, art, culture and literature are all a part of NALCO’s deep involvement with the life of the community.
Successful operations of the Company have led to employment and income generation for the local people in many significant ways.