Page 37 - June2018

environment

he cocky confidence of the riage. The villagers suspect liquid and out with satisfactory explanation of
Vedanta Limited manage- gaseous effluents discharged from the why snipers and police personnel
ment that it will take legal copper-manufacturing unit to be the armed with automatic assault rifles
recourse perhaps has its cause. And this anxiety, fear and anger were let loose on civilian protesters.
T basis in the fact that it has brought the people together against the Human rights activists asked why
seen four such closures in the past and mega-project.” standard operating procedures were
re-opened just like it was business as There is no doubt, said environmen- not followed and why police aimed and
usual. At one time, even the Supreme talist Nityanand Jayaraman that the shot at the protesters, in chest and face,
Court fined the company 100 crore but police were brutal and decisive and as if to kill them.
allowed it to continue operations. determined to instil fear among the It was after six days of the killings
But, this time around, with blood of protesters and shot to kill them rather that junior officials owned up to or-
13 protesters on its hands, albeit indi- than shooting below the waist as is dering police firing, indicating a clear
rectly, the company sure does tread on mandatory. cover-up of the incident ahead of the
a dangerous path as not many politi- “Supreme sacrifice of the 13 villagers, assembly session.
cal parties at this stage would like to be shot and killed by police, will not go in Sekar, a deputy Tahsildar was among
seen on the right side of the plant that vain,” Jayaraman said, adding that the the few officials who filed an FIR at Tu-
devoured the lives of innocent pro- Vedanta group was notorious for flout- ticorin on May 22, the day of firing itself,
testers — of course, at the hands of the ing environmental norms wherever it detailing as to what led to his decision
police who appeared to be shooting to order firing. He insisted that all the
to kill rather than shooting to bring a usual standard procedures were fol-
“mob” under control. The decision to shut lowed and only when everything else
On May 28, Toothukudi collector failed, firing order was given. Though
Sandip Nanduri oversaw the sealing of the copper smelter there are not many takers for this ver-
the company amid whistles, cheers and plant will have sion, as the victims of the police ex-
claps by the protesters. He had the com- cesses and brutality cornered deputy
pany premises within minutes of GO, serious economic chief minister O Panneerselvam when
directing the permanent closure of the ramifications by he went to visit them at Tuticorin gov-
company even as the Tuticorin town ernment hospital. He was put through
was limping back to normalcy. pushing India’s a Spanish inquisition, indicating the
The protest this time around was annual import bill by anger of the people against the govern-
over the Sterlite plant’s announcement ment and all it represents. Sceptics also
of doubling its capacity and size of the about $2 billion wondered if the SP would follow the or-
plant, and hence the doubling of the ders of a junior administrator like a tah-
danger it posed to the well-being of sildar and carry out firing on protesters.
the people living in the vicinity. With operated in the past. “We hope this clo- The government in its order said the
reports of cancer among villagers, the sure is really permanent. We have seen TN pollution board had not renewed
slogan “Copper for Sterlite, Cancer for in the past closures and reopening,” said the consent to Ms Vedanta Limited to
People” became a rallying cry for the S Raja, a member of the Tuticorin trad- operate its Copper Smelter Plant. Sub-
villages around the SIPCOT complex ers’ association. sequently, after the protests and kill-
in Toothukudi. In fact, Sterlite agitation The decision to close the plant came ing the board issued closure notice
began way back in 1994 in A Kumared- after the government lost the war of and stoppage of power supply to the
diyapuram. But the fear of expansion public perception and with assembly plant on May 24. In the closure order,
of the plant sparked off fresh agitation session commencing, it was sure to the government said, “The State shall
as in the perception of the villagers, the face more negative publicity with the endeavour to protect and improve the
plant would pollute the environment opposition DMK moving in for the kill. environment and to safeguard the for-
further. The agitation slowly attracted It is to blunt the opposition onslaught ests and wildlife of the country. Under
people from South Veerapandiapu- rather than a will to care for the people Sections 18(1) (b) of the Water Act, 1974
ram, Pandarampatti, Silverpuram, Ma- and address their grievances that the in the larger public interest, the govern-
dathur, Meelavittan, Ayyanadaippu, Edapaddi Palaniswami government ment endorse the closure direction of
Sankaraperi and Mappillaiyoorani. took the final call. Besides, the public the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board
These villages are situated close to perception was also going against the and also direct the Tamil Nadu Pollu-
Sterlite Copper plant, where people Centre and the BJP, which many believe tion Control Board to seal the unit and
suffer from respiratory diseases, birth in Tami Nadu are back-seat driving the close the plant permanently.”
of children with congenital disorders Tamil Nadu government. But the cocky confidence of Ve-
and increased instances of miscar- The TN government failed to come danta Limited and its reactions on the

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