After the Madras High Court on Tuesday upheld the state government’s decision to shut down Sterlite Copper, a unit of Vedanta Limited in Thoothukudi, the company has called the shutting down of the plant a knee-jerk reaction by the state government and that it will continue to seek legal remedy against it. “It was a complex case; we accept the judgement but will seek remedy. Till we exhaust all legal options we will continue to seek remedy,” Sterlite Copper CEO Pankaj Kumar said.
Speaking post the judgement, Pankaj claimed that there were political reasons for shutting the unit down and that there has been no case of pollution at the plant in the past five years.
“For last 5 years, from 2013 onwards, there has not been a single case of pollution or non-compliance in our plant, it is on record. I can’t say we have been polluting at all. We are fully compliant. In fact, our norms are 40% of what it should be, and we adhere to global standards,” he added.
In a victory for those protesting against the copper unit, the HC dismissed the company’s plea to resume operations, over two years after it was shut down for violating environmental norms.
The plant, which has been pulled up for air and water pollution by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), was ordered to be shut down on May 24, 2018, citing Section 33A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and Section 31A of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act.
This decision came two days after 13 civilians were shot dead by the police during protests against the plant.
Speaking to the media, Pankaj also said that the plant has been losing around Rs 5 crore a day for the past 2.5 years and that continued closure, along with the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to layoffs in the company.
“The unit) was arbitrarily shut down and will have an impact on investors coming to the state,” he added.
In 2018, residents from villages around Sterlite, along with social and environmental activists, had staged sustained protests against the copper plant which has been slammed over pollution allegations since the 1990s when it was set up in the coastal district. The Supreme Court had fined the plant Rs 100 crore for environmental damages in 2013.
On the 100th day of the protest on May 22, twelve people, including a 17-year-old school student, were shot dead by district police who opened fire, with bullets to the head, chest or the back as they marched in defiance of prohibitory orders to protest the proposed expansion of the plant. The following day, a 22-year-old man was shot dead by the police during protests condemning police action the previous day.
Two probes on the shootings are still underway — one by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and another by a Tamil Nadu government-appointed commission led by retired Madras High Court judge Aruna Jagadeesan.