Deaths leave Sterlite power-less,TN moves to shut down plant

Even as the death toll in Tuesday’s police firing on the anti-Sterlite protesters mounted to 13 on Thursday, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) ordered the closure of the company with immediate effect. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Generation and Distribution Company (TANGEDCO) withdrew power supply to the company on Thursday morning.

In his first official reaction to the police firing, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami blamed the DMK and its allies for the violence in Thoothukudi. “The Tamil Nadu Government is taking all steps to shut down Sterlite Copper. But the Opposition parties are agitating for selfish reasons,” said the Chief Minister on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh appealed to the people of Thoothukudi to remain calm and maintain peace. The Home Ministry has sought a report from the Tamil Nadu Government on the police firing and the prevailing situation in the port city.

The State Home Secretary ordered the telecom companies to suspend internet services in the three district of Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari following widespread transmission of fake video materials and messages. A pall of gloom is discernible among industrialists and corporate heads because of the Thoothukudi incidents.

The DMK-led Opposition has called a dawn-to-dusk Tamil Nadu Bandh on Friday. The announcement was made late Wednesday night after a marathon meeting of the Opposition alliance. On Thursday morning, DMK president MK Stalin rushed to the Secretariat and staged massive protest in front of the Chief Minister’s Office. The DMK scion wanted the Chief Minister to resign immediately owning moral responsibility for Tuesday’s “unprovoked and unjustified” police firing at the “innocent” protesters.

Police guarding the Secretariat and legislative Assembly had to physically lift the fragile looking Stalin who was later arrested by police for trying to block the road to Fort Saint George.

Speaking to reporters, the Chief Minister said, “We have received reports that police fired in self-defence. The Government has appointed a retired High Court judge to prove the factors that led to the police action. Let the probe be over.”

Interestingly, former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram was one of the directors of Vedanta Resources, the owners of Sterlite Copper, during the period when the company managed to get clearance certificates from various regulatory bodies. Chidambaram, the Congress strongman, resigned from the company in May 2004 following his appointment as the Union Finance Minister. How Sterlite Copper managed to get the approval for its first copper smelter unit is shrouded in mystery, according to Fatima Babu, the leader of the agitation against the company.

Pon Radhakrishnan, Union Minister of State for Finance said here on Thursday the BJP was against setting up of the company in Tamil Nadu. “I myself sat on fast against the Sterlite Copper and was arrested by police,” said Radhakrishnan while speaking to reporters.

The immediate fall out of the Sterlite agitation would be felt in the industrialisation process of Tamil Nadu, according to leaders of various trade and industries boards. “The Thoothukudi incidents would have an adverse bearing on the State’s industrialisation,” said S Rathinavelu, vice president, Tamil Chamber of Commerce and Industry.