Nalco's board of directors, which took on record the unaudited financial results for the September-December quarter on Tuesday, has indicated that provisions would be made for payment of compensation to the people affected in the ash pond disaster and the expenditure incurred for the repair of the pond in the fourth quarter of 2000-01. The total amount is likely to be over Rs 50 crore.

"On December 31, 2000, a part of the embankment of company's fly-ash pond at Angul suddenly breached. As a result, ash slurry flooded the nearby Nandira river and affected about 773 villagers of 23 villages located in adjacent areas. ``Relief measures for the affected people, repair of damaged properties and reconstruction of the breached embankment are continuing on a war-footing. In the absence of proper estimation of compensation and repair expenditure, no liabilities on this account have been accounted for. These will be fully provided for in the fourth quarter," the board has observed.

Nalco's Rs 192.01 crore third-quarter profit is 21.71 per cent higher than the Rs 157.76 crore it made in the same quarter a year ago. Sales turnover went up 20.64 per cent to Rs 606.93 crore from Rs 503.08 crore in September-December 1999.

Turnover for the nine months up to December 31, 2000, works out at Rs 1,733.11 crore as against Rs 1,455.23 crore in the same period a year ago. The nine-month net profit zoomed to Rs 494.85 crore from Rs 335.85 crore.

The sales turnover and the net profit registered 19 and 47 per cent growths respectively over the corresponding year-ago periods.