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Firing began as anti-Sterlite protesters tried to storm SP office
Protesters retaliated by pelting stones at policemen and overturning one of the police vans
By
migrator
migrator
Thoothukudi
The Sterlite protesters march towards Thoothukudi Collectorate commenced in the morning at around 10 am after the protesters gathered at Our Lady of Snows Shrine Basilica, locally known as Madha Church.
Initially, police prevented the protesters from marching towards the Collectorate but as the number of protesters was high, the police could not do much.
When the protesters marched towards the Collectorate, the strength further swelled from a few hundreds to thousands as people from various parts of the town joined the march. The first violence was witnessed near VVD signal in Thoothukudi when police blocked the protesters from advancing further and began to lathi-charge them.
Protesters retaliated by pelting stones at policemen and one of the police vans was overturned. Following this incident, a few vehicles were torched and a few damaged.
When policemen withdrew for a while, the protesters proceeded towards Collectorate and on the way, two police vans in P & T Colony were torched. Soon a few two-wheelers parked beneath the highway bridge connecting Thoothukudi-Madurai national highways were also torched.
As the protesters tried to enter Thoothukudi Collectorate they were stopped by Tirunelveli DIG, Kapil Kumar Saratkar, but the protesters could not be stopped. They gained entry into the Collectorate and the entire Collector’s office was ransacked.
Around 15 two-wheelers bikes and 10 government cars were torched by the protesters and all the glass panels in the Collector’s Office were damaged.
It was when protesters tried to storm the Superintendent of Police’s office, situated inside the Collectorate campus that police began to shoot at the protesters.
As soon as the firing began, protesters ran in different directions to save themselves. However, police continued their firing in Terespuram, a fishing hamlet in Thoothukudi, in the evening when the fishermen tried to gherao the residence of the Superintendent of Police’s residence in their locality.
Electricity and cable TV connection were switched off in the town and police continued their hunt in all the residential areas and villages in and around Thoothukudi.
Following a gas leak at Sterlite Copper in March 2013, the then chief minister the late J Jayalalithaa, ordered its closure, following which the company moved the National Green Tribunal.
With the tribunal overturning the government order, the state moved the Supreme Court against it, and the petition was now pending there, it added.
It said the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) had earlier this year rejected Sterlite’s application seeking renewal of consent to operate the plant over non-fulfilment of green norms, including those related to disposal of copper waste and effluents. The company later moved the Appellate Authority and the next hearing is slated for June 6, it said.
Police planned the firing, say protesters
The anti-Sterlite protesters claimed that the police firing was pre-planned as all the deceased were shot at the face and the chest. They also claimed that it was the police who escalated the violence.
Co-ordinators of the protest said that the police used snipers to shoot at them and of the 10 killed, six were leading the protests at different parts.
Robin, one of the co-ordinators, said that if the police wanted to warn them, they could have fired shots in the air but, they began to shoot directly at the protesters without any warning. “They did not even follow the rule of shooting below the knee,” he said.
Gunaseelan, an AAP functionary from Thoothukudi, said that commandos were deployed and they used snipers to target the protesters. “All the deceased were shot either on their chest or face. Snowlin, a 17-year-old girl, was shot on her mouth. “There were snipers who were aiming their kill from the top of police vans,” said Gunaseelan. He also agreed with Robin that the six co-ordinators were shot down deliberately.
The police, however, said that the firing was not planned and they were left with no option but to disperse the protesters as the rally was becoming violent.
Refuting this, another protester, Rajesh said that the rally was peaceful and it was the police that lathicharged them near VVD signal. It was after this that the protesters resorted to violence.
History with Sterlite
TN’s tryst with the firm began in 1994 after it was rejected by Maharashtra
- 1992: Sterlite was allotted 500 acres in Ratnagiri district by Maharashtra government to set up a copper smelter unit
- July 15, 1993: The Ratnagiri Collector directed the Sterlite company to suspend the construction of the smelter unit
- 1994: Within a year, the company shifted the project to Tamil Nadu and on August 1, 1994, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) issued a NOC asking the company to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
- Jan 16, 1995: The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) cleared the project without the EIA
- Oct 14, 1996: TNPCB, ignoring the violation of its own licence condition on setback from the Gulf of Mannar, issued licence to operate the plant
- Aug 20, 1997: Staff at TNEB’s sub-station located across the Sterlite factory complained of health issues due to emissions from the plant
- Nov 1998: The NEERI tabled a report on Sterlite’s activities and its effects following a direction from the Madras HC which was hearing a petition filed in 1996 by National Trust for Clean Environment
- Nov 23, 1998: The factory was closed for a brief following a HC order
- Sept 21, 2004: A Supreme Court monitoring committee after an inspection recommended not to give clearance for the company’s proposed expansion from 391 to 900 tonnes per day. Within a day, the MoEF gave approval for the expansion
- Nov 16, 2004: The TNPCB in its report confirmed that the company was engaged in unlicenced production
- Sept 28, 2010: In the 1996 case filed by National Trust for Clean Environment, MDMK leader Vaiko and others, the HC ordered the closure of the factory. Three days later, the SC stayed Madras HC’s closure order
- March 23, 2013 - there was a massive gas leak in Thoothukudi town and people experienced suffocation, coughing, eye irritation, miscarriages and severe discomfort
- 2014: SIPCOT applied for permission to develop the 1,616 acres as Thoothukudi Industrial Park
- March 28, 2018: A report released by the Chennai Solidarity Group exposed how the proposed factory site fell outside the existing industrial complex
- April 2, 2018: TNPCB sent a notice to SIPCOT, threatening prosecution for unlicensed work on site reserved for Thoothukudi Industrial Park
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