Sterlite is permanently closed: D Jayakumar

Chennai: Dismissing the pro-Sterlite tweets from Baba Ramdev and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev as of no consequence, senior minister D. Jayakumar on Thursday reiterated that the copper smelter unit at Thoothukudi “is permanently closed and it’s our firm stand”.

“There is no room for reconsideration. Our stand is that Sterlite unit is closed permanently”, the minister said at a media interaction, where he was asked to comment on the tweets by Yoga guru Ramdev and Isha Sadhguru advocating that the closure of Sterlite was not proper.

“That may be their view, we don’t care. See, already we have closed it and it’s permanent”, said the minister.

The Thoothukudi copper smelter unit of Sterlite, which is part of the global metal giant Vedanta Group, was closed down by the state government following protests by locals alleging pollution of air and groundwater. The agitation turned violent on its 100th day on May 22, leading to police firing that killed 13 protesters.

Sterlite had denied the pollution charge while alleging that outsiders had infiltrated the protest and caused violence, including the torching of several vehicles belonging to its employees in the staff quarters. The Chief Minister too had alleged infiltration of extremist elements from outside that led to the violence and police firing.

However, bowing to the public pressure, the NGO campaigning and of course a hostile media — particularly the TV channels — the government ordered the closure of the copper smelter and sealed the factory, notwithstanding the appeals and warnings from the industry bodies as well as other experts that such wholesale slaughter of a vitally important production facility would hurt national interests.   

In his recent tweet, Sadhguru had said: “Am not an expert on copper smelting but I know India has immense use for copper. If we don’t produce our own, of course we will buy from China. Ecological violations can be addressed legally. Lynching large businesses is economic suicide”.

Ramdev’s tweet, reportedly after meeting with Vedanta-Sterlite boss Anil Agarwal, said: “International conspirators created ruckus at one of Vedanta’s plants in South of India through innocent local people. Industries are the temples of development for the nation. They should not be closed”.

Environmental activists have slammed the gurus for their tweets, arguing that they should be more bothered about the 13 deaths in police firing at Thoothukudi.