TN CANCELS STERLITE LAND ALLOTMENT
CHENNAI: The allotment of land for the proposed expansion of Vedanta group’s copper plant in Tuticorin was on Tuesday cancelled “in larger public interest” by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT), an official release said.
The move comes a day after the Tamil Nadu government ordered the state pollution control board to seal and “permanently” close the Sterlite Copper plant following last week’s protests, over pollution concerns, during which 13 people were killed in police firing.
“As the allotment of land for the proposed expansion has been made by SIPCOT, in larger public interest, the land allotment made by SIPCOT for proposed expansion of copper smelter plant (Phase-2) by Vedanta Ltd is hereby cancelled,” SIPCOT said in its communication to the Vedanta group.
“The land price collected for the said land allotment will be refunded as per the norms of SIPCOT,” it said.
There have been a series of agitations against the establishment of a copper plant at the SIPCOT industrial complex in Tuticorin, about 600 km from here, expressing concerns about the pollution caused, it added.
An official release at Chennai said, “The cancellation of allotment of 342.22 acres of land has been made in larger public interest and this has been communicated to the company.”
Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami had on Monday said the state government had issued the directive to seal and ‘permanently’ close the copper unit, in deference to the ‘sentiments’ of the people.
Vedanta Ltd termed the closure “unfortunate” and said it would decide the future course of action after studying the development.
NHRC TO PROBE DEATHS
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday said it was sending a fact-finding team to Tamil Nadu to probe the deaths of the 13 protesters.
The move come after a petition before the Delhi HC on May 25, seeking the intervention of the commission in probing the deaths of civilians.