London (PTI): ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, faces charges of leaving a trail of environmental destruction in its plants across the globe as environment campaigners plan to descend on Luxembourg next week to protest the company's lack of sensitivity towards pollution control.

Protestors will present Arcelor's shareholders at its annual meeting with a 40-page dossier of evidence about the firm's lack of interest in controlling pollution at its manufacturing units across the globe, from Orissa in India to Vanderbijlpark in South Africa, a media report said on Sunday.

According to Pippa Gallop of Bankwatch, a network of local campaign groups, the firm had grown rapidly by buying up former state-owned steel plants without investing sufficiently in cleaner technologies.

"The main problem is the aggressive cost-cutting strategy of this company," he said.

ArcelorMittal, NRI tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, has received more than 500 million dollars in taxpayer-backed loans over the past decade, from development lenders including the London-based European Bank of Reconstruction and Development.

According to a report in The Observer on Sunday, Bankwatch said the steelmaker has used the cash to boost its bottom line, instead of mitigating the environmental and social impact of its plants.