Environment Minister KC Karuppannan 
Tamil Nadu

Sterlite: Minister for legal action

As the protests demanding the closure of Sterlite Industries by the local residents in Thoothukudi entered the 47th day, Environment Minister KC Karuppannan on Saturday said the state is looking into the complaints of the people and would take legal action

migrator

Chennai

However, the Minister did not specify the objective of the legal action and added that the people are protesting against the setting up of unit 2 of the company at the Special Economic Zone near the existing plant. He said the Union Environment and Forests Ministry had granted no objection certificate to the new unit on January 1, 2009. Based on the Centre’s no objection certificate, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board gave its consent and the preliminary works for the new unit had commenced. 

On the existing Sterlite unit functioning at SIPCOT in Thoothukudi, he said the company had applied for renewal and the government is analysing the capacity of the pollution control equipment in the factory for renewal. 

Earlier, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had given consent to the factory’s reopening only after monitoring the pollution level which was below that specified by the board, he added.

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