PEOPLE DYING FOR WANT OF OXYGEN: SC RAPS TN OVER VEDANTA PLANT

NEW DELHI: People are dying due to lack of oxygen, said the Supreme Court on Friday, questioning the Tamil Nadu government for opposing the reopening of Vedanta’s Sterlite Copper plant at Thoothukudi only to produce medical oxygen. The bench, led by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, took a dim view of the state’s submission that letting the plant function will create law and order problems.

“When people are dying, can a state say we will still not run it because there could be law and order problems or that Vedanta did this and that? People are dying for want of oxygen. Somebody has to take the responsibility,” observed the bench, which also included justices L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat.

“Just because they (state government) have a problem with Vedanta, they will let people die. What is this? We have never heard this kind of an argument by a state before,” lamented the bench, as it sought a categorical answer from the state by Monday on whether it would let Vedanta operate or if the state government was willing to take over the plant to produce the oxygen on its own.

The plant was shut down in May 2018 after 13 civilians were shot dead in the anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi.

However, a fresh plea by Vedanta, argued by senior advocate Harish Salve, urged the court to let it make only the oxygen plant in Thoothukudi functional so that it could provide free-of-cost thousands of tonnes of oxygen for medical purposes to combat the shortage of oxygen in the country.