Rs 2,500 crore Tata steels Titanium dioxide project seems to have run into rough weather, with several political parties, opposing it tooth and nail.
CHENNAI: Rs 2,500 crore Tata steels Titanium dioxide project seems to have run into rough weather, with several political parties and people of Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts in the southern Tamil Nadu, opposing it tooth and nail on the plea that the livelihood of thousands of families in the area would be affected.
On seeing the opposition from the public and political parties, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi put on hold the project and announced that he would be deputing a team of ministers and officials to discuss the issue with the people.
Tata's first major investment project in Tamil Nadu envisaged mining of ilmenete, titanium and garnet minerals found in abundance in over 11,000 acres in 47 villages in and around Sattankulam and Pudukulam in Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts.
It also envisaged setting up of a factory to produce Titanium dioxide in an area where no major industry, barring the Southern Petrochemicals's fertilizer plant, had come up.
Though the Tatas had signed a MOU with the Tamil Nadu government in 2002, when the AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa was in power, they could not make much headway on the project implementation as the file on the subject was lying with her for long.
Jayalalithaa had said she did not sign the file on the project as it would adversely affect the farmers in the area, which was disputed by Karunanidhi. He said she did not approve the scheme only to help some one close to her.
When the DMK came to power in 2006, the project was revived and Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata came here on June 28 to sign a MOU for revival of the project.
The group had undertaken a techno-feasibility study of the project since it signed the first MOU in 2002.
Tamil actor Saratkumar, who had announced his intention of floating his political outfit by October next, fired the first salvo against the project and deputed a team of his supporters, led by two retired IAS officers, N Murugan and D Selvaraj to interact with the people in the area and formulate a report to be submitted to the government.
DMK's ally, the PMK, also opposed the project on the plea that it should not be given to the private sector, while AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa said she would lead an agitation against the project, which was a very rare phenomenon.
After her party's defeat in the assembly polls, she had led two agitations, one against the petroleum products price hike and a one-day fast on the Cauvery issue.
The Chief Minister alleged that some influential persons were the stumbling block to the implementation of the project, aimed at developing the backward area.
Saratkumar's team, which met the villagers in the area, in its report, said the locals were against the project, even if the Tamil Nadu government itself took it up.
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