Three years ago, to this day, on 28 May 2018, thirteen innocent Tamil protestors were killed in a police firing at the Sterlite plant in Thoothukudi. Three years on, the protests continue even today, with a Satyagraha by the Anti-Sterlite Protest Movement. Back then, after strong protests by the local population, environmentalists and the Naam Tamilar Katchi, the Sterlite plant in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu was indefinitely shut down. The non-availability of Oxygen in hospitals around the country, especially northern India, created a panic situation as there was the absence of governance at all levels. Sensing an opportunity, Sterlite managed to convince the Tamil Nadu government to reopen the plant for medical oxygen. Environmental and climate change activist Dr T Santosh Raj looks into the machinations of the industrial giant, dilly-dallying of the Tamil Nadu government and warns both of peoples’ ire, should Sterlite cross the limits imposed by the Supreme Court order. 

DECLINING THE PLEA OF VEDANTA TO REOPEN their plant, the Madras High Court in its order on 18 August 2020 inter alia, in para 583 of the 814-page judgement said, “The petitioner has been consistently stating that if their plant is shut the requirement of copper in India cannot be met, it will be a great blow on the economy, etc. The Courts have held that, when it comes to the economy pitted against the environment, the environment will reign supreme. Therefore, economic considerations can have no role to play while deciding the sustainability of a highly polluting industry and the only consideration would be with regard to safeguarding the environment for posterity and remedying the damage caused.”

The Vedanta group has a record of playing with the lives of the local population and using its financial and political clout browbeating the decision-makers to toe the line from Orissa to Zambia, and from Chhattisgarh to Goa. 

The mass uprising of the people in Thoothukudi against the plant in Tamil Nadu, pushed strongly by the Naam Tamilar Katchi, three years ago, led the government of Tamil Nadu to recognise the ill effects of Sterilite and order it to shut operations on 28 May 2018. Then and now, the Naam Tamilar Party has been unequivocal, “The Sterilite plant must be permanently shut and the factory dismantled. Nothing short of this is acceptable to the people of Tamil Nadu.”

The Madras High Court has extensively delved into the various reports of how the groundwater, air quality has reached dangerous proportions around the plant. The judges did not buy any of the subversive arguments of Sterlite regarding this.

Economic considerations can have no role to play while deciding the sustainability of a highly polluting industry and the only consideration would be with regard to safeguarding the environment for posterity and remedying the damage caused.”

Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice V. Bhavani Subbaroyan, Madras High Court in their order shutting Sterlite plant at Tuticorin, 18 August 2020

Way back in 2008, the Department of Community Medicine, Tirunelveli Medical College submitted a report regarding the hazards caused by the Sterlite plant.  The report exhaustively described that “The iron content in the groundwater in  Kumareddiapuram and Therkuveerapandiapuram, the site of the ongoing protests, were 17 and 20 times respectively, higher than the permissible levels prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards for drinking water. Chronic exposure to iron through drinking water could result in chronic fatigue, joint pain and abdominal pain.”

“At 13.9%, respiratory diseases were significantly more prevalent in the areas surrounding the factory than in areas without industry and this was much higher compared to the state average. The incidence of asthmatic bronchitis is 2.8%, more than double the state average of 1.29%.”

Climatic conditions and atmospheric pollution could be the cause for the prevalence of ENT morbidity.”

Report, Department of Community medicine, Tirunelveli Medical College

The study also found that there were more people suffering from Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) disorders near the factory. Among the ENT diseases, pharyngitis and sinusitis were very high. Myalgia, or general body pain, was another widely reported symptom in the study area closer to the factory. “Climatic conditions and atmospheric pollution could be the cause for the prevalence of ENT morbidity,” read the report.

Measuring the impact on young women, the report recorded, “Women in the [study] area had more menstrual disorders, like menorrhagia and dysmenorrhea. 

A Division Bench comprising Justices TS Sivagnanam and V. Bhavani Subbaroyan of the Madras High Court dismissed the plea of Vedanta, in its 2018 order saying that the petitioner was a “chronic polluter” and had many complaints pending. In April 2018, the Tamil Nadu State Pollution Control Board had declined to renew the plant’s Consent to Operate certificate for failing to adhere to the prescribed conditions.

13 people were killed in protests on 22 May 2018. Subsequently, under orders of the Forests and Environment department, the plant was ordered shut on 28 May 2018.

Significantly, in December 2018, the NGT had permitted reopening of the plant which was set aside by the Supreme Court in February 2019, holding that the NGT did not have jurisdiction in the matter. 

The “chronic-polluter” Vedanta resorted to extraneous data about National Air Quality Index in Thoothukudi, saying that the plant was “safer than Chennai” and that the plant had been closed only “to appease the protestors,” even offering the false logic that the reopening of the plant was supported by downstream industries and the local population. The High court dismissed these arguments. The Court noted that Thoothukudi is the only district in Tamil Nadu which finds a place in the 2019 list of most polluted cities in the country, as per a report of the Government of India, prepared under the National Clean Air Programme.

As the availability of Oxygen hit an all-time low, all over the country, Sterlite sensed an opportunity. Sterlite started pursuing respective state governments of Gujarat, Goa and Maharashtra for permission to reopen their industrial plants, to fulfil the crying humanitarian need of producing liquefied medical oxygen. The plea of the  Vedanta group to reopen the Sterlite copper smelting plants was turned down by the three state governments and lapped up by Tamil Nadu.

First AIADMK and now DMK have given the approval to restart the plant, ignoring the warnings of the Madras High Court and protests of people in the region, submitting in the Supreme Court their approval to reopen the Sterlite plant with a 40,000 metric tonnes capacity.

First AIADMK and now DMK have given the approval to restart the plant, ignoring the warnings of the Madras High Court and protests of people in the region.

This newfound love of Sterlite for the people has no history. Mega-rich Sterilite is slow on employee welfare. On the contrary, though the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board in September 2005 had ordered the “chronic polluter” to build a free hospital, the facility is still to see the light of the day.

Though Sterlite had no moral or legal ground on the basis of which they could approach the courts for reopening the Tuticorin plant, still on 22 April 2021 the Vedanta group approached the Supreme Court of India for reopening the plant only for the production of oxygen to meet the oxygen demands during the COVID19 health crisis. 

The move was surprising and amusing. This sudden love by Vedanta for people affected by the pandemic was taken by all with a pinch of salt, except the Supreme Court, which was under a panic situation, given how Delhi was gasping for Oxygen during that week. The Supreme Court of India failed to notice the serious observations of the Madras High Court in its 18 August 2018 order. There are so many other Vedanta plants in the country. No one questioned the eagerness and the hidden motive of the company to open the Tuticorin plant for producing Oxygen! 

On 26 April 2021, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu of the AIADMK-BJP coalition government – Edapadi K Palanisamy convened an All-Party meet to discuss the reopening of the Sterlite plant for oxygen production. Though, a day before the meeting, DMK, CPM, CPI and BJP had publicly disapproved of the idea, at the meeting they supported the proposal. DMK added a rider that no other activity except the production of oxygen should be permitted and that the supervision of Oxygen production must be done by the government. 

The Tamil nationalist Naam Tamilar Katchi, Thol. Thirumavalan’s Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and Kamal Hassan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam were not invited to the All-party meet. Later on, VCK, MNM and Vaiko’s Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam accepted the proposal. 

The Supreme Court of India chastised the Tamil Nadu government for raising law and order concerns and even rebuked the Tamil Nadu government during the court proceedings.  

The Supreme Court of India chastised the Tamil Nadu government for raising law and order concerns and even rebuked the Tamil Nadu government during the court proceedings.  

Tamil Nadu Advocate General Vijaya Narayan submitted to the apex court that the Sterlite Tuticorin plant can produce 1050 metric tonnes of Industrial Oxygen, out of which barely 35 metric tonnes would be of liquefied medical oxygen. Even so, the purity level of the medical oxygen from Sterlite is 93%-94%, whereas it should be 99.4% and above. Moreover, as the plant had remained shut for 3 years, it will take a minimum of 6-9 months to put the compression and bottling plants to full capacity. 

However, the Supreme Court, angry at the unfolding situation when thousands were dying by the day, had made up its mind and it ordered the opening of the plant after the Tamil Nadu government submitted the decision of the all-party meet. 

It is difficult to understand that the Tamil Nadu government could not bring forward alternative industries for the production of medical oxygen, given the fact that it is unviable for Vedanta to run this plant only for medical oxygen needs. 

“Vedanta can open the plant only to produce medical grade oxygen…The order is passed only in view of the national need for oxygen. The order will not create any equities in favour of Vedanta.”

Supreme Court of India order dated 27 April 2021

The party -Naam Tamilar Katchi, has stood its ground and continues to oppose the reopening of Sterlite, tooth and nail. Saddened at the sellout by the mainstream parties, the NTK appealed to the Tamil Nadu government to understand the sentiments of the people of the state and declare permanent closure of the Sterlite plant. NTK chief Seeman warned of serious consequences in case Sterlite made a back-handed attempt to reopen its plant. He questioned the lack of initiative by the Tamil Nadu government in exploring other avenues for Oxygen production. 

Sinister attempts at environmental genocide of the people of Tamil Nadu by industrial oligarchs, submissive political leaders and an insensi

tive judiciary must be contested.

The Supreme Court permitted Vedanta to operate its Oxygen production unit on a standalone basis at the Copper plant in Thoothukudi, which had been closed for 3 years. The Supreme Court order was categorical, “Vedanta can open the plant only to produce medical grade oxygen…The order is passed only in view of the national need for oxygen. The order will not create any equities in favour of Vedanta.”

To have some kind of a supervising authority to monitor the activities of Vedanta, the Tamil Nadu government was directed to form a committee comprising of District Collector, Tuticorin, SP, Tuticorin, District Environmental Engineer, Sub-Collector, Tuticorin, two govt officials with knowledge of affairs, two TN-based environmental experts and two members from amongst the victims of Vedanta’s polluting activities. Interestingly, the court also ordered that “The committee will be at liberty to order a safety audit before the plant resumes and also engage with the local community to assuage their concerns.”

While the first tankers of medical oxygen have started rolling out of the Sterlite plant, after a brief stoppage of production due to technical reasons soon after the reopening, there is no public evidence of the fact that the “chronic polluter’ -as the Madras High Court had called Sterlite, has provided details of the opening of the industrial premises to the Oversight Committee and whether a safety audit was done, as asked for in the Supreme Court order. It will also be interesting to note how much Oxygen does Tamil Nadu gets out of the total production of Sterlite.

From the date of the reopening on 12 May till 25 May, Sterlite has dispatched 150.58 tonnes, of medical oxygen.

As per the report of The Wire, “As of 6 am on May 25, 2021, Vedanta claimed to have produced 1,653.64 tonnes of oxygen. Of this, 1,491 tonnes of GOX was just wasted. The quantum dispatched for medical use in tankers till date is 150.58 tonnes, which is a tenth of what was wasted.”

Chennai-based writer and social activist Nityanand Jayaraman of the Thoothukudi campaign against Vedanta, in his story in The Wire has raised fears that there is more to it than meets the eye. He says, “Vedanta’s offer remains an empty promise that is inseparable from its intention to eventually regain access to its facility. And disasters continue to cloud judgement, blunt honest critique and prompt knee-jerk responses as sensitivity overshadow sensibility.”

Sinister attempts at environmental genocide of the people of Tamil Nadu by industrial oligarchs, submissive political leaders and an insensitive judiciary must be seriously contested. The lockdowns may have presently restrained people from coming on to the streets for justice, but in case Sterlite uses arm twisting or legal jugglery to continue operations beyond the period of 31 July 2021 deadline, it will find the people of Tamil Nadu at its doors.

The author Dr T Santosh Raj is a Siddha doctor BSMS -practising traditional Tamil medicine, a keen nature lover, an activist for climate change, environmentalism and biodiversity. He is especially focused on pursuing developments at the Sterlite plant and other bio-hazardable projects like the Adani ports in Kattupalli, Ennore (Thiruvallur district near Chennai). He is a member of the Environmental Wing of the Naam Tamilar Party. The views expressed here are his own.