Hindalco undertakes measures to ensure sustainability & community development following red mud pond spillage incident

According to a recent report, Hindalco Industries Limited has taken a few significant steps to ward off incidents like industrial by-product bauxite residue spillage from the storage area that took place at Hindalco’s Muri alumina refinery in April 2019.

The company has ensured the safety and well-being of the land, water, and people by undertaking a massive task of assessing the overall impact of the incident. Hindalco also put back the spilled residue within the boundary of the storage area by using hundreds of earth-moving machinery, and all this they completed before the onset of monsoon.

The firm also ensured to complete the routing of collecting storm water to the river bypassing the Bauxite Residue Storage area and treatment of the soil in the land area where spillage had occurred.

Hindalco confirmed that there was no trace of Bauxite Residue wash-off in monsoon to the river and no patch of land rendered unsuitable for farming.

Besides, the firm organised door-to-door medical check-ups and medical camps for employees and villagers in the vicinity of the Bauxite Reside Storage area to ensure no injury or related ill-effects caused to them during or after the incident. The final report submitted by the Commissioner of South East Chhotanagpur Division, who was leading the investigation, indicated no loss of life or property due to the incident.

In the current financial year, Muri Plant has so far dispatched around 1.5 lakh tonnes of Bauxite Residue to various cement companies under the collaboration of Hindalco with cement industries across the country for bauxite residue as a raw material. This has significantly reduced the height of the storage area on the eastern part adjacent to the Subarnarekha River.

To combat the COVID-19 impact, Hindalco has covered 31,000 families of 86 adjoining villages for relief measures.

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