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Pending the National Green Tribunal (NGT) decision, Vedanta Ltd is going all out to make sure its copper plant in Toothukudi is reopened.
It has urged the Environment Ministry to give clearance to the plant, which directly employs around 2,000 people and will create jobs for more if the unit is allowed to be expanded.
On July 18, after the NGT hearing culminated in New Delhi, officials from Vedanta headed to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF-CC) located at Jor Bagh to implore the top bureaucrats to expedite the environmental clearance application for the expansion project. The letter written by P Ramnath, CEO of Sterlite Copper - Vedanta Ltd, to MoEF-CC, was seen by BusinessLine.
Economic impact
The letter states that “support” is sought from the MoEF to help renew the Consent to Operate (CTO) the existing plant in Toothukudi, which is presently shut on Tamil Nadu government orders.
“Closure of such a large plant under public pressure has impacted more than 20,000 direct and indirect employees along with an economic impact on downstream industries using copper and acid produced at this plant,” Ramnath says in the letter.
Even as the NGT continues the status quo on the plant’s closure, Ramnath, in the letter, claimed: “We are a fully compliant organisation on all parameters of air and water pollution. The solid waste, too, is disposed off as per Central Pollution Control Board guidelines.”
The Toothukudi plant had been operational for 22 years, with a capacity to produce 4 lakh tonne copper per annum. The plant was in the process of expansion when public resistance peaked, which also led to the police gunning down 13 civilians.
“The plant is under expansion for additional 4 lakh tonnes per annum with an investment of ₹3,500 crore with a total employment potential of 40,000 including direct and indirect, post expansion,” Ramnath says.
“Permanent closure of the plant will make India a net importer of copper with a forex outflow of around $1.5 billion per annum.” The letter further alleges that the series of protests since March 24 were organised by “foriegn-funded NGOs,” without mentioning any particular names.
The Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) rejected the renewal of the plant’s CTO licence on April 9 and issued closure orders on May 23, which the State government later endorsed through an order passed on May 28.
State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Sipcot) has now cancelled the land allottment and the TNPCB has withdrawn permission for the expansion project.
In a reply to the Lok Sabha on July 20, Minister of MOEF-CC, Harsh Vardhan, said the MoEF is considering an application filed by the project proponent (Vedanta) on February 14 for prescribing fresh terms of reference for the preparation of an environment impact assessment report for the expansion proposal.
Vedanta is currently waiting for the MoEF-CC to prescribe the fresh terms of reference, after which it will prepare the latest environment impact assessment report.
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