Following TNM’s report which exposed that money was paid to four villages in Chennai’s Ennore to quell protests against the gas-leak-tained fertiliser company, a citizen’s collective comprising retired High Court judges K Kannan, D Hariparanthaman and others, have demanded the state government to initiate investigations by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), the Income Tax (IT) Department and other appropriate independent agencies.
In a joint statement issued on August 23, they said, “The scope of investigation must include the decision-makers at the regulatory, revenue and police departments for a failure to act or speak up despite knowledge of wrong-doing is as culpable in such contexts as actually engaging in it.” The statement also read, “It is unlikely for this brazenly corrupt deal to have happened without the knowledge of local police or revenue officials. Such an unlikely situation would only point to an even graver administration crisis – one of a critical intelligence failure.”
Read: After the Coromandel Ammonia leak, villagers in Chennai's Ennore paid to quell resistance?
TNM reported that four fishing villages located in close proximity to the CIL plant were paid cash. Villagers said that two of the four villages, namely Thalankuppam and Nettukuppam were given Rs 1 crore each while Periyakuppam and Chinnakuppam were paid Rs 50 lakhs and Rs 35 lakhs respectively. Every resident of these villages who was a part of the village committee were paid Rs 10,000 each while widows were paid Rs 5,000 each. Though who gave the cash remains unclear, many villagers said that DMK MLA KP Shankar, had organised talks between the company and the people. The MLA however completely denied this.
These four villages were among the 33 villages that protested against CIL for over 100 days of protest, following the ammonia gas leak that hospitalised 42 people in December 2023. They had been demanding that the plant be permanently closed. However, the plant resumed partial operations on August 16, after the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in May ordered conditional clearance to reopen.
Seeking the DMK government’s commitment to democracy and the constitution, the statement said, “At a time when corporate influence in perverting governance has become a national issue involving mega corporations like Adani and national regulators like SEBI, allegations such as this cannot be taken lightly. Purchasing decisions with cash is nothing short of perverting democracy and is an affront to our constitution. The irony that the alleged payoffs were made on the eve of our Independence Day is hard to miss.”
Others who are part of the collective include include former Vice ChancellorV Vasanthi Devi, retired IAS officer MG Devasahayam, advocate Henri Tiphagne, People’s Union for Civil Liberties national general secretary V Suresh, advocate D Nagasaila, Thomas Franco, SP Udayakumar, Arappor Iyakkam’s Jayaram Venkatesan, activist-musician T M Krishna, activist Nityanand Jayaraman, Yuvan Aves, Prasanth J, Charu Govindan, Kalpana Karunakaran, and PB Prince Gajendra Babu.
Editor’s Note: The introduction of this story has been modified. TNM had made it clear in its investigation that it was unclear who gave the money. The changes reflect the same.