At least 13 people have been killed in a ghastly incident of police firing in the port town of Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu. The people were on a protest march to the Collectorate demanding the shutdown of Sterlite Copper Smelter Plant in the town which has widely been accused of flouting pollution control norms and causing health hazards to people living in its vicinity. Sterlite Copper is a business unit of the mighty Vedanta Limited headed by Anil Agarwal. The plant is India’s biggest copper smelter with a capacity of producing 4.38 lakh tonnes of copper anodes per annum.
Image Credit: sterlitecopper.com
This copper smelting plant has long been opposed by the locals and environmental activists citing its constant breach of pollution control regulations. People of Tuticorin accuse the plant for causing a range of health problems too. The plant had been subject to several closures, on grounds of violating environmental norms. In 2010, the Madras High Court ordered to shutdown the plant for violating environmental regulations. In 2013 the Supreme Court struck down the Madras high court’s order and Sterlite escaped with a fine of Rs 100 crore for polluting the environment and for operating the plant without the renewal of consents by Tamil Nadu State Pollution Control Board.
On March 23, 2013, Tuticorin residents woke up to itchy eyes, burning throat and breathing trouble. People thought it was a gas leak, and then, rumours spread that it was because of Sterlite. People started to complain of breathing trouble and nausea and all of Tuticorin was panicked. The state pollution control board quickly swung into action. It accused the factory of releasing toxic gas in the air. Sulphur dioxide levels had gone off the charts on the night of March 23, the board said. But the plant’s administration had persistently denied all these accusations, throughout.
Image Credit: sterlitecopper.com
From February 2018, there were renewed mass-protests against the company’s plans of setting up a second smelting complex and demanding the shutdown of its existing smelting plant in the town. The protestors blamed the plant for huge scale pollution of air, ground and water along with a number of health hazards to people and livestock. These protests led by the local people had been very peaceful for a continuous 99 days, with various political parties, activists, film people and writers lending their support to them.
It was on May 22, the 100th day of the protests, that things took an ugly turn. Protestors in their bid to meet the district collector were stopped by the police midway and it ended in a clash between the two. Soon the situation escalated and the police resorted to firing. Precious lives were lost. People wonder how the protest turned violent and what made the police to engage in firing when there obviously were other means available to quell the violence. The State government has been accused of siding with the company and killing innocent people. An enquiry commission has been constituted to probe the incident. The situation hasn’t abated yet and Tuticorin still remains cut off from the rest of Tamil Nadu.
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