Local protests against the expansion of a copper smelter plant in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district have gained momentum with support extended by the actor-turned-politicians Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan.
Local protests against the expansion of a copper smelter plant in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district have gained momentum with support extended by the actor-turned-politicians Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan.
A day before Haasan’s visit to the area, superstar Rajinikanth took to Twitter to extend his support for the protest which entered 47th day on Saturday.
Residents of A Kumarareddiyapuram, a village adjacent to the Sterlite Copper Smelting plant, have been protesting seeking an immediate shutdown of the plant and also to scrap the expansion plan citing severe pollution of air, water and soil. The protest got much need attention when the Thoothukudi town remained shut for a day on March 24 and ended with a public rally which attracted thousands of people.
In a tweet, the superstar said that people had been protesting against the Sterlite Copper smelter plant for the past 47 days citing health concerns. “One can’t understand why the government, which gave the nod for the plant, is not taking any action and is just watching,” he said in a Tamil tweet.
The actor’s support comes after Haasan announcement that he would join the protesters on Sunday against the expansion of the plant. "On Sunday I'm joining those protesters in Tuticorin. Sterlite copper plant should not become another Bhopal... Sterlite plant has to be closed, at least not to be expanded," Haasan had said while addressing a press conference on Friday.
The villager's protest has got the support of almost all the political parties including DMK demanding the government to stop work on the Sterlite expansion. CPI (M) has announced that it would lay siege to the copper smelter plant on April 4 against its proposed expansion.
A leading copper producer, Sterlite Copper represents the copper unit of Vedanta Limited, which operates a 400,000 tonnes per annum plant here. The unit has been since closed for a fortnight from March 29 for taking up maintenance work.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Environment Minister KC Karuppanan has said that the state government was going into the complaints received from the people residing around the proposed site for setting up of the new units of the Sterlite Copper plants in Thoothukudi district.
“The state government will take steps as per the law,” the minister said in a statement.
He also said that the state pollution control board would consider the Sterlite plants application for the renewal of the consent to operate license which expires on Saturday only after reviewing the pollution control equipment installed in the plant, public complaints and air pollution data.
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