THOOTHUKUDI: Prafulla Samantara, who won the 2017 Goldman Environmental Prize, said the anti-Sterlite agitation was also a fight for climate justice. Marking the 5th anniversary of the Thoothukudi police firing, in which 13 civilians were gunned down for protesting against Sterlite Copper, the activist paid his tributes at Trespuram in the district on Monday. The prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, which is also known as green nobel, was awarded for his 12-year-long struggle to protect Niyamgiri Hills, where the Dongria Kondh community resides, from turning into an aluminum ore mine.
Terming the anti-Sterlite protests on May 22 and 23 as historic, Prafulla said the people of Thoothukudi protested not just for their health but also for their future and stood against global warming and globalisation. "The research conducted by Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital, around 2010, highlighted the health and breathing troubles suffered by the people around the copper smelter. If the state and the union government reopened Sterlite, it would be a blunder," he said, adding that the public should be involved in movements against erring big corporates only when governments disobey court orders, constitutional provisions, and refrain from implementing its own laws governing resource management. Industrial pollution would have reduced by 50%, if the government had followed the law, he added.
Prafulla further said the development should be balanced and sustainable, and should not come at the cost of farmers and tribals. "A national development policy that will define the extent of exploiting natural resources for development projects should be enacted considering its socio-economic impact on the displacement of the people, flora and fauna, elimination of forest cover and how long it would take to restore such a forest," he opined.
Regarding the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill (FCAB), Prafulla said the BJP government is in a haste to dilute the strict guidelines to privatise the forest lands and satisfy the interest of the corporates. The state government must also be careful as it tacitly takes away the rights of states as well, he concluded.