Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and DMK president M.K. Stalin on Saturday said the Tamil Nadu government should undertake a scientific study and prove that the Sterlite plant in Thoothukudi is responsible for ‘irreversible pollution’ in the area.
Mr. Stalin said that the National Green Tribunal’s 40-page order of Saturday, allowing Sterlite to restart operations, was a slap in the face of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s government.
“While being responsible for the death of 13 persons who were shot dead by the police when they were protesting against the Sterlite factory for polluting the environment and affecting lakhs of people, the State government has also been lethargic in closing down the factory. Now, Mr. Palaniswami has been forced to bow his head down in New Delhi,” said Mr. Stalin.
The Opposition parties in the Assembly and the judges of the Madras High Court had pointed out that a mere GO was not enough to shut the factory down.
“I argued that a policy decision needs to be taken and opposition parties supported this view. The State government refused to take a policy decision,” he said.
VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan said: “The recent order has created tension in Tamil Nadu. He urged State government to take steps to shut down the Sterlite plant permanently.”
MDMK chief Vaiko said the NGT order was on ‘expected’ lines. “The AIADMK government didn’t take a strong policy decision in the Sterlite plant issue. Justice Goel had pointed out that the plant cannot be shut based on order by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. I will go to the Supreme Court against Sterlite plant and we will soon see a time when the plant will be permanently shut,” he said.
PMK youth wing leader Anbumani Ramadoss said that corporate power had won on the Sterlite Copper plant issue. “The Tamil Nadu government should realise that they suffered a crushing defeat. Appealing the decision in Supreme Court alone will not help. Instead, the Tamil Nadu government should ban copper smelting factories and proper changes should be made to the Factories Act,” he said.
The Tamil Nadu government’s claim that it could challenge the NGT’s order in the Supreme Court was unlikely to happen as the government’s order to shut down the plant itself was on shaky ground, said K. Chandru, retired Judge of Madras High Court, here on Saturday. Addressing mediapersons, he said in the past two decades of struggle against the plant, the government always stood on the side of the company until 13 people were killed in the protest in May. “It failed to comprehensively and strongly document the pollution and other violations of the plant, which is necessary to legally shut it down. Only the activists were doing it and they can do it only to a small extent,” he said.
He blamed the government for ‘taking the public for a ride’ on the issue. “After all the tacit support for the company, they cannot suddenly change stance,” he added.
Policy decision
However, he said a ‘policy decision’ to permanently close down the plant as demanded by activists can also be legally untenable. He said the government must be earnest in its commitment and challenge Sterlite Copper with proper documentation of all its violations.
“The other solution is a strong public movement as happened in Nandigram in West Bengal against land acquisition for Tata’s car plant. There, it was public agitation that forced the scrapping of the project,” he said.
