Court stalls Vedanta's new smelter unit after killings

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An Indian court on Wednesday stayed the construction work of a new smelter unit belonging to Britain-based Vedanta’s group Sterlite industries. The order comes a day after 12 people were killed in a protest against the massive pollution spread by the mining giant.

The Madurai bench of Madras High Court, while hearing public interest litigation filed by environmentalist Fathima Babu, ordered an interim stay on the expansion of the smelter unit.

Locals from Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu, a southern state in India, are allegedly suffering from numerous ailments due to pollutants released by the copper plant, contaminating local water bodies.

Irate over the company’s and government’s inaction on the issue, hundreds of protesters gathered in Tuticorin in early February, demanding the closure of the 400,000 tons of copper smelter unit. The months-long peaceful protest turned violent on Tuesday with some of the protesters fighting a pitched battle with the police, forcing the latter to open fire.

A long history of flouting rules

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), one of India’s leading think tanks, alleged that the Vendata unit, which started operations in 1997, had flouted numerous rules.

India’s top court monitoring committee found in 2004 that the plant lacked the infrastructure for management of highly toxic arsenic-containing wastes. Officials also detected sulfur dioxide release far more than the permissible standards.

"In 2010, the Madras High Court closed the plant because it was polluting the environment and had flouted norms while setting up the plant. In 2013, the Supreme Court imposed a penalty of Rs 100 crore (14.6 million US dollars) on the company for polluting the environment,” CSE maintained in a press release.

Hundreds of locals reported illnesses after a gas leak from the plant in March 2013. “This plant has polluted the environment and flouted standards with impunity for the past 20 years,” said Sunita Narain, Director General of CSE.

In March of this year, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board refused to extend the company’s operating license. The Board accused the company of dumping waste in the local river. It also failed to provide groundwater quality report.

The think tank suggests permanent closure of the plant along with a plan to decontaminate the site and the surrounding environment.

Mining behemoth refutes charges

P Ramnath, CEO of Sterlite Copper, refuted charges leveled against the company in an interview with Business Today. "These are all unfounded rumors being propagated,” he said.

“This plant has been there for the last 20 years, and we have families who live just half a kilometer away from the plant. All these families are living proof that there is nothing wrong. They are spreading rumors that cancer in Tuticorin is because of the copper,” he maintained.

Ramnath added that if you look at hard data, out of the 32 districts in Tamil Nadu, Tuticorin comes somewhere 14th or 15th in cancer among males and 25th in cancer among females. Chennai and Kanchipuram are in the top 6. There is no correlation and no proof of what they are saying, he stated.

[Top Image: A bus on fire is seen during a protest against the construction of a copper smelter by Vedanta, in Tamil Nadu. /VCG Photo]