Sterlite to take legal route against closure

In an open defiance to the Tamil Nadu Governmnent’s measures to shut down the environmentally hazardous Sterlite Copper Ltd at Thoothukudi, the company management declared that it would pursue ‘legal’ route to counter such measures. It also warned Tamil Nadu that most of the industries were moving out of the State to nearby Andhra Pradesh and the Global Investors Meet proposed to be held in the State may not materialise.

Public resentment is so high in Thoothukudi and elsewhere in Tamil Nadu against the management of Sterlite Copper over the police firing which resulted in the death of 13 lives that it may be difficult  for the company to resume production.

“Our priority is to ensure that the company Sterlite Copper was send lock, stock and barrel from Tamil Nadu. This company has given only pain and hardship to the people of the State,” said Faitma Babu, the “one-woman army” who has been waging a legal battle against the company owned by Vedanta Group of UK for more than a decade.

Fatima was speaking to The Pioneer over telephone from Thoothukudi. She said Sterlite would not be allowed to operate in Tamil Nadu. “This company brings all kind of toxic raw materials into Tamil Nadu and convert them into copper and export the finished product. Let them shift it to UK or anywhere but we will not allow them in Tamil Nadu. The Sterlite Copper was set up in Tamil Nadu only because no other States in India allowed them,” she said.

Fatima Babu’s charge that the Sterlite Copper enjoyed patronage from most of the political parties in Tamil Nadu has been proved beyond doubt. A Congress leader trying to become the Prime Minister of the country has been named by the anti-Sterlite campaigners as the guardian of the Vedanta Group which owns the company. The lawyer-wife of the politician was on the payrolls of the company and was reported to be the liaison agent of the group.

Though Sterlite management shunned the media since the breaking out of the protest marches at Thoothukudi, the company deputed its chief executive officer P Ramnath on Thursday to speak to a pro-CPI(M) daily to warn Tamil Nadu Government.

The Chief Minister had told journalists early Thursday that his Government was taking all legal steps to permanently close down the company. Within hours, Ramnath met journalists of the said daily and told them that the company would pursue all legal routes. “In the last five to six years, there has been absolutely no incident. These issues are cropping up from nowhere,” charged Ramnath. 

Fatima Babu said that the shutting down of Sterlite Copper  alone would save the State and its people. “This is a company which was driven out of Goa, Maharashtra by the people. What is not good in those States would not be good for Tamil Nadu,” said Fatima.

The main concern among the local residents  is the pollution caused by Sterlite Copper. “The emission of toxic gases and effluents have destroyed and polluted waterbodies and water resources in the region. The Gulf of Mannar Marine Reserve, an ecological hotspot is on the verge of destruction because of companies like Sterlite Copper,” said a senior marine biologist working with Centre for Advanced Studies in Marine Biology (CASMB).

Meanwhile, people in Tamil Nadu rejected the bundh call for Friday issued  by the DMK and its allies. Life was normal and attendance in offices and factories were not affected. The Government rescheduled some of the university examinations scheduled for Friday fearing disruption in public transport. Normalcy has returned to .Thoothukudi as people  resumed their routine  life.