Sulphuric acid being removed from tank in Thoothukudi Sterlite plant: Officials

District Collector Sandeep Nanduri had said on June 17 that the leak was a minor one and there was no need for panic.

Police stand guard outside a copper smelter controlled by London-listed Vedanta Resources in Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu (Reuters Photo)

THOOTHUKUDI: Removal of 1,000 tons of sulphuric acid in a storage tank of the closed Thoothukudi Sterlite plant, a small quantity of which leaked last Sunday, was continuing, official sources said.

Experts from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, and officials of the revenue and health departments, headed by Sub Collector Prashanth, were getting the acid removed, they said.

District Collector Sandeep Nanduri had said on June 17 that the leak was a minor one and there was no need for panic.

Thirteen people were killed in police firing on May 22 and 23 when violence broke out at the protest by locals, demanding closure of the plant over pollution issues. The state government subsequently issued an order for "permanent closure" of the operation of Sterlite plant.

Meanwhile, an advocate moved the Madras High Court bench in Madurai, seeking Rs 620 crore compensation from the Vedanta Group, which owns Sterlite, to rehabilitate those affected by the anti-Sterlite stir.

Petitioner S P Vijay Nivas, in his Public Interest Litigation, also sought a compensation of Rs 10 crore each to the families of the 13 persons killed in the firing.

He submitted that traders had been badly affected as they could not transact business to the tune of Rs 100 crore.

Export and import from this port town were also hit, he said.

Fishermen alone suffered a loss of Rs 80 crore as they could not put out to sea from May 22 to 28, he said People had been affected due to the pollution caused by by the Sterlite plant and were suffering from various diseases like cancer and asphyxia, he said.

It was only to ventilate their anger that they had taken out a procession.

However the police action had been brutal, for which the plant was mainly responsible, he said Hence he sought a direction from the court to pay Rs 620 crore for rehabilitating the affected people and Rs 10 crore each to the families of those killed.