Bhubaneswar, June 23: The state government has opposed the Centre's decision to divest shares in the Navaratna public sector undertaking National Alumina Company (Nalco).

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said: "Nalco has been a symbol of Odisha's pride. There is discontentment among the people of Odisha and the employees of the company after the recent disinvestments effected by the central government in this Navratna company."

In his letter, Naveen said Nalco had an excellent track record of performance and is poised for robust growth.

"To enhance the production capacity of Nalco and increase its profitability, the state government has reserved the Pottnagi Bauxite deposit over an area of 1738.04 hectares having an estimated resources of about 74 million tonnes of bauxite in favour of Nalco. The terms and conditions of the mining lease have also been issued by the state government on July 12, 2016," he said.

Naveen also highlighted how the state government has supported Nalco over the years.

Urging the Prime Minister to put on hold further disinvestments in Nalco, Naveen requested Modi to issue appropriate instructions to the ministry of mines to look into the matter and address the concerns of the people of Odisha and the company's employees.

"We still remember how Nalco had turned down the Odisha government's plea to support its Aahar scheme. At the same time, its management is taking a partisan attitude by sponsoring the BJP programmes. Despite all these things, we are opposing the disinvestments in Nalco as it is associated with Odisha's pride," said a senior BJD leader.#