Madras High Court orders closure of Sterlite's copper smelting unit in TN

29 Sep 2010 Evaluate

The Madras High Court on Tuesday has ordered the immediate closure of Sterlite Industries' copper smelting plant in Tuticorin. It was constrained to take this decision, owing to voluminous material available on record about the negative impact of running of the industry at the place and in the manner it is being run.

 

Explaining the reasons for revoking the licence granted to the company's unit, the judges pointed out that the materials on record show that the continuing air pollution being caused by the noxious effluents discharged into air by the company is having a devastating effect on the people living in the surroundings.

 

While the company wanted the court to take into consideration a “favourable” report submitted by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) in 2003, the judges said a subsequent report by NEERI in 2005 made clear that the waste from the company had high concentration of heavy metals, arsenic and fluorides.

 

The pathetic condition that has been recorded by NEERI in its report is that the plant site itself is severely polluted and the ground samples present levels of arsenic which indicate that the whole site may be classified as hazardous waste according to Indian standards. The sole violation of erecting the plant within the prohibited area of ecologically sensitive area is sufficient for the Central Government to reject the proposal of the company.

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