Anti-Sterlite protest: CM Palaniswamy ensures legal action for factory shut down

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami has assured that his government was taking steps to shut down the Sterlite factory at Thoothukudi.

Speaking to the media the chief minister said that his government was taking the legal route to ensure the shut down of Sterlite Copper Smelter plant.

Palaniswami had earlier defended the police action during Tuticorin anti-Sterlite protests.

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He had said, "If someone is attacked, the natural course would be to defend and safeguard themselves. This is what has been done by the police in response".

At least 13 people have lost their lives in the firing by police during protests against the Sterlite factory on May 22 and 23. More than 70 people are undergoing treatment.

The foundation stone of Sterlite’s copper-smelting plant in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi district was laid by the late former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa, in the year 1994.

For over two decades, locals in the region have been fighting cases in various courts to protest its ongoing operations stating that the plant causes severe air and water pollution and contaminates the soil.

The state chief minister also said that the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had denied the permission to Sterlite factory to continue running the factory, however, the factory got the permission from the National Green Tribunal.

He also added that the state government had challenged the apex court against the NGT ruling.