SME Times News Bureau | 25 May, 2018
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami said on Thursday that his
government was taking all steps to close the Sterlite factory at
Thoothukudi after 13 people were killed in protests against it.
Palaniswami
told the media that the AIADMK government was taking the legal route to
ensure that the Sterlite Copper Smelter plant was shut down.
He
said people in the region had been protesting peacefully for long
against the company, alleging that it was causing health hazards and
depleting the water table, but this time the opposition and "anti-social
elements" had turned the movement violent.
"It is because of this instigation that so many people have died. And we are really saddened by the deaths," he said.
He
added that in April Sterlite approached the Tamil Nadu Pollution
Control Board to continue running the factory but the permission was
denied.
But the management got a favourable order from the
National Green Tribunal. The Tamil Nadu government had moved the Supreme
Court against the NGT ruling.