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Alcan Executives Embarassed by Own Irresponsibility in
India Investment
For Immediate Release
April 28, 2005
Contact: Patrick Cadorette 514-298-9974
alcantinindia@yahoo.com
Montreal April 28, 2005 - For the second consecutive
year, Alcan Inc. of Montreal was directly confronted
at its own Annual General Meeting about its troubled
investment in a proposed bauxite mine and alumina
refinery in the Kashipur region of Orissa, India. The
joint venture with the Aditya Birla group of India
goes by the name of Utkal Alumina International Ltd.
(UAIL).
Inside the general meeting, Anna Malla, shareholder
and member of Alcan't in India. began a barrage of
interventions with a resume of the 2004 dialogue
between Alcan and the Montreal-based solidarity
campaign. Ms. Malla systematically exposed the
untruths behind every one of the company's claims
about the Kashipur project. She concluded with the
question, "How much longer does Alcan plan on
misrepresenting the situation to its shareholders and
the general public?" Alcan failed to respond to this
question.
When CEO Travis Engen claimed that within the last
year there has been progress with the UAIL project,
Sarah Heiberg, who is another concerned shareholder,
concurred. Reading from an article published last
week in the Hindu, a major national Indian daily, she
emphasized, "Since last year the State has revived the
use of force to curb the peoples' struggle," and
continued by asking, "Does Alcan realize that its
involvement in Kashipur has directly jeopardized its
entire sustainability and social responsibility
strategy?"
When Alcan executives tried to dismiss the
ever-pressing Kashipur case by claiming it to be an
"exclusively Indian issue", Tamara Herman who has just
returned from a three week fact-finding trip to
Kashipur, retorted by saying "this is very much a
Montreal issue. It is Montreal-backed financing that
is developing the UAIL project, for the sake of
Montreal profit." Ms. Herman had also earlier noted
that no UAIL official in all of India was willing to
communicate with her during her entire stay in India.
At the same time as these clear condemnations inside
the meeting, some 80 people rallied outside to discuss
and promote the concerns of the peoples of Kashipur,
which have been systematically ignored by Alcan.
Along with workers from Alcan plants in Kitimat BC and
Jonquière QC, who have been actively supporting the
Alcan't in India campaign, the demonstrators convened
a Peoples' Assembly. Representing the views of
villagers, solidarity activists and international
supporters, the Assembly demonstrated the clear,
consistent and broad-ranging bases for world-wide
opposition to Alcan and UAIL.
Shareholders and analysts exiting the AGM were
obviously concerned with the issue in India. Most
were eager to learn more from members of the campaign,
having never been provided with accurate information
about the Kashipur case by Alcan.
The Alcan't in India campaign is confident that
continued pressure, especially through world-wide
solidarity and the continuous dissemination of facts
about the Kashipur issue, will soon succeed in forcing
Alcan to fully divest from UAIL.
For more information, visit www.saanet.org/alcant
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