The drying up of sulphuric acid supplies, following the shutdown of the Sterlite copper smelter at Thoothukudi, small units that use the chemical as an input have taken a hit.
Two small units — Coimbatore Pioneer Fertilisers and Amrita Chemicals — have been forced to shut down, according to the Chemical Industries Association (CIA).
On May 28, the Tamil Nadu government ordered the closure of the Sterliteplant, after anti-pollution protests against the unit turned violent, claiming ten lives in police firing.
A letter from the CIA to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Edapaddi K Palaniswami, said that over 350 employees Coimbatore Pioneer and Amrita Chemicals have lost their jobs.
The Association urged the State government to probe the validity of allegations levelled against Sterlite and take remedial measures. It said tha the charges do not appear to have a scientific basis and that they are mostly concerns that have been already addressed.
Sterlite had a 15 per cent share of the sulphuric acid market in India, supplying nearly 6 lakh tonnes of the acid, annually, mostly to detergent, battery, pharmaceutical, industrial and fertiliser units in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Plea to resume plant
Members of the CIA and the Thoothukudi Contractors Association (TCA) have urged the Tamil Nadu government to consider reopening the Sterlite plant citing that their businesses have been badly affected and thousands of workers were left unemployed.
Key members of both the associations met newspersons on Thursday to highlight the problems they are facing due to the the plant’s closure. The CIA said that 29 companies employing over 10,000 people have been directly affected and over 150 companies have been indirectly affected due to stoppage of sulphuric acid supplies from Sterlite. These companies have a combined turnover of ₹24,000 crore.
“RH Gopal of Annam Chemicals in Namakkal that produces animal feed, said: “We are dependent on Sterlite for sulphur and phosphorous that are key to animal feed. The plant’s closure has affected us badly,” he told newspersons.
CIA President S Ilanahai, who is MD of CETEX Petrochemicals, said the price of sulphuric acid had in the last two months increased to ₹10,000 per tonne from ₹4,000.
“There is no second opinion on controlling pollution. However, we need to find a way out to reopen the plant, which should follow all the norms,” he said.
According to TCA, over 3,000 contractors, including labourers and truck operators, engaged directly by Sterlite have been affected due to the closure of the plant. Nearly 2,000 trucks were used by Sterlite daily.