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Balco workers call for Chhattisgarh bandh

The striking employees of the newly privatised Bharat Aluminium Co (Balco) in Korba have called for a statewide shutdown on March 16 as their protest entered its twelfth day on Wednesday, Press Trust of India said.

The call has been given by the BALCO Bachao Samyukt Abhiyan Samiti (Council for United Movement to Save Balco) to protest the sale of government's share in the state-run firm and to garner state-wide support in favour of the strikers, PTI quoted Samiti coordinator Bodhram Kanwar as saying in a statement.

Some 7,000 plant workers at the Balco plant at Korba in the central state of Chhattisgarh are on striking against the sale of government's controlling stake in Balco to Sterlite Industries Ltd for Rs 5.515 billion.

The strike has paralysed work and damages are estimated to be more than Rs 1 billion.

The sale is the Union government's first big privatisation in a decade of economic reforms and a test of its plans to step up the sale of its majority stake in other state- run firms.

Balco accounts for 15 per cent of India's aluminium output.

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