THOOTHUKUDI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent remarks on rising copper imports, “thanks to strikes and protests leading to closure of copper plants in the country”, taking a significant toll on India’s foreign exchange reserves – are giving some anxious moments to the residents and activists in Thoothukudi, where Vedanta’s copper smelter unit was shut by the state government in May 2018 following protests against pollution and a police firing incident that killed 13 people.
At a public meeting in Telangana, the PM did not specifically mention the Thoothukudi plant, but the only copper smelter plant shut after intense agitation is the Vedanta Sterlite plant. Taking exception to Modi’s appeal to the courts, retired professor and activist Fatima Babu told TNIE that the PM’s remarks smack of scant respect to both the Madras High Court’s closure order and the Supreme Court’s vindication.
“When a conflict arises between environmental protection and economic development, priority must be given to environmental protection,” she pointed out. “It’s shocking that the PM can show such contempt for court verdicts,” she said. “It pains me to say the lives, health, dignity, and rights of citizens are not matters of national interest to the PM,” Fatima Babu said.
Thoothukudi district country boat association coordinator M R B Regan of Trespuram said, “If the government permits reopening of the copper smelter, we will revive the agitation.”
A woman resident said, “I shifted my house to a nearby district due to severe breathing trouble when the copper smelter was functioning. I have settled back in Thoothukudi now, as the environment is clean. The said remarks are a cause for concern.”
Recalling the PM’s appeal to the labour unions and public to distance themselves from protesters, another activist noted that the demonstrators and activists were treated as urban Naxals. The activists are worried as Vedanta’s petition seeking permission to reopen the plant under green initiative, by modifying the working process, is pending in the court. A senior bureaucrat believed that CM Vijay would not allow Vedanta to revive the plant here, as he himself visited the coastal city after the fiasco in 2018.
