BHUBANESWAR: A trade union leader claimed all major political parties in the state, except for Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had supported the strike call. In July the central government announced it would cut its majority equity in NALCO to a minority. Some 10 percent shares will be sold in the domestic market. Another 20 percent would be offloaded overseas. Also, 29.15 percent shares would be sold to institutional investors and to other "strategic" buyers. NALCO employees would get two percent shares. But trade unions oppose the privatization saying NALCO was set up to facilitate the economic development of the backward state -- a mandate that the private owners would not be obliged to fulfill. Top trade union leaders met here Sunday. Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) leader and former MP Shivaji Patnaik claimed two Orissa ministers too had extended their support to the strike. "No vehicles, trains and buses will be allowed to run that day," Patnaik told IANS. Protests will be held outside central government offices. Emergency services like hospitals, electricity and water supply would be exempted. But said BJP spokesman Raj Kishor Das: "We oppose the strike because it is against the greater interests of the country." Chief Minister Patnaik has sought a meeting of Vajpayee's multi-party National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to discuss and possibly review the NALCO privatization plan. Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is a member of the NDA. But the BJD appears split on the issue. BJD MP Trilochan Kanungo has supported the central government on the privatization bid saying it will help NALCO earn greater profits. Set up in 1981, NALCO has been a key provider of employment in Orissa, a backward state of 37 million where some 60 percent of the population is designated as living below poverty line. NALCO exploits the state's huge bauxite reserves. It is India's premier aluminum manufacturer with exports touching 13 billion.
Source: IANS