The huge Sterlite Copper plant of Vedanta in Thoothukudi (earlier Tuticorin), about 600 km from Chennai, will remain shut.
New Delhi: The Madras High Court today dismissed the plea by Vedanta Limited challenging the Tamil Nadu government’s closure of its Sterlite Copper plant at Thoothukudi. The court had reserved its judgment on January 8.
The plant was ordered shut by the Tamil Nadu government on May 28, 2018, after police firing killed 13 people protesting the polluting plant in their locality.
The court rejected today said that the “closure order stands”.
Sterlite Copper is India’s second largest copper smelter. The plant’s licence was not renewed.
The protest started among locals and environmental activists, who said that the air was becoming polluted and so was the water. The management of the plant, which used to produce over 400,000 tonnes annually, had denied those accusations.
The National Green Tribunal had dismissed the government’s closure decision and had ordered Vedanta to deposit Rs 2.50 crore as a token amount for their failures and asked the company to spend Rs 100 crores within a period of three years for the welfare of the inhabitants in the area.
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In December 2019, an NGO in Chennai had released a statement stating that the air quality in Tuticorin has improved after the closure of the Sterlite plant in Tuticorin.
-India Legal Bureau