Protesters demand the reopening of Sterlite Copper plant

New Delhi, Sep 3 : Nearly 20 people, headed by Murugan Secretary of the Pro-Sterlite Foundation, presented a memo to S.P, Singh Baghel, Minister of State for Law and Justice; Ashwini Kumar Choubey Secretary of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Union Finance Minister Nirmala S.

Sitharaman seeking the immediate opening of Sterlite Copper Smelting Plant in Thoothukudi, Tamil NaduThe Federation with a membership of in thousands, consists of truck drivers, owners raw material suppliers womens self-help organizations, contractors and others who depend on the plant issued a request for a speedy resolution to restart the plant.The urgency was triggered by the fact that more than 15,000 families were who lost their livelihoods due to the closure of the plant.

These include port workers and truck drivers, contract labour workers, and sole bread-winning women "We have been struggling for over four years following the Sterlite plants closure and our lives have been severely affected," states the memorandum.The report also stated that the decision to close was caused by an "orchestrated protest by outsiders.

We have therefore created an Pro-Sterlite Plant Federation to prove that the lies and propaganda spread of opposition groups in Thoothukudi are not true".They also met with secretary in the Ministry of Finance, including the state and cabinet ministers as well as the state minister and cabinet in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the state minister and cabinet of the Ministry of Law and Justice.

The protesters who are pro-Sterlite from Pandarampatti, Sankaraperi, Meelavittan, Madathur, Kummareddiarpuram, Naduvakurichi, Rajavinkovil, Puurpandiapuram, Sillanatham villages in Tamil Nadu took to the streets, shouting slogans in favor of the copper smelting plant following Sterlite Copper invited an Expression of Interest (EOI) from potential buyers for its controversial Thoothukudi unit.The EOI was published in regional and national newspapers on June 20, 2022.

Many petitions have been presented to Chief Ministers as well as state agencies asking for the restart of the facility, which was a important employment source in the region prior to when it was shut down on the basis of pollution to the environment "The copper mine was the primary source of income for our family.After the plants closure weve struggled to find an employment opportunity in the area.

We must travel to far in the search of jobs.Even so, its difficult to earn enough money to live on because the cost of living in big cities is very high and we get paid only the minimum wage," said one of the protesters.

With a capacity of producing 4 lakh tonnes of copper, the Vedanta-owned Thoothukudi plant was responsible for 40 percent of the demand in India for copper that was refined.After the the closure of this plant the export of copper in India fell by 90 percent and it began to import of copper for the first time in 18 years.India is currently imports the equivalent of $2 billion of copper and has an estimated loss on exports of more than $1.5 billion that results in an economic loss of 220,000 crore for the economy.Not just this but also because of the widespread use of copper as a byproducts in various industries, the shut-down of the plant has affected a variety of small and large-scale companies which has created a huge gap between supply and demand of the product.

Sterlite was the sole domestic source of Phosphoric acid in the country, which is the essential ingredient to make fertilisers.Additionally the Thoothukudi plant was also the biggest supplier of sulfuric acid in the state, a substance used in chemical and detergent industries.

The prices of the two chemicals have risen following the closure of Thoothukudis plant.It was the sole native phosphoric acid producer as well as the primary gypsum and slag supplier to over 20 cement companies.

The downstream players relied on the plant to obtain five essential raw materials: gypsum sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid copper cathode, and copper rod.After the plants closure related industries that depended upon the Sterlite plant were faced with a lot of difficulties in regards of the expense of procuring of essential raw materials.A report of the Jaipur-based Consumer Unity and Trust Society which is funded by NITI Aayog and the Government of India The report, titled "Economic impact of Select rulings of the Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal of India Synthetic Report" it said that the closing of the plant resulted in losses of 14794 crore rupees to the stakeholders, and indirect and direct job loss of the 30,000 employees.

There were loss of $491 million in all downstream industries.This is in addition to the total tax loss of 7,641.86 crore to the government.7,641.86 millions to the state between May 2018 until May 2021.san/ .