Thoothukudi Sterlite Violence

What is the issue?

The protest against Sterlite Copper Smelting plant in Thoothukudi (Tamil Nadu) had been intensifying in the past few months.
Recently, amid government clampdown, the protests turned violent, and resulted in the death of more than 10 people.

How did the Sterlite struggle evolve?

Sterlite stakes claim to be India’s largest copper producer and is a major presence in Tamil Nadu’s industrial mix.
But the industry has been under the scanner for environmental violations since its inception in the 1990s.
Significantly, the Supreme Court in 2013 had imposed an Rs.100-crore fine on Sterlite for pollution.
As the nearby residencies started to face health and environmental issues, they had been protesting sporadically for many years now.
But the proposal for the plant’s expansion plan intensified protests about a couple of months ago and the situation has remained heated since then.
TN government has claimed that the plant is currently not operational and that expansion has been stalled.
But there was complete official apathy to convey this message unambiguously to the protesting masses, thereby attracting suspensions.

What led to the recent violence?

To mark the 100^th day of their protest, the people planned to take a massive rally to the district collector’s office.
Suspecting that the situation would go out of control, the Madras High Court directed the government to take sufficient precautions.
The TN government has imposed prohibitory orders (sec.144) and stationed a strong police battalion on the ground.
While the police battalion was indeed strong, the intensity of protesters seemed stronger and police barricades were repeatedly breached.
Police resorted to lathi charge, which infuriated the mob, which in turn started pelting stones to wade off police actions.
Subsequent police firing led to the death of at least 10 people, and the infuriated mob vandalised the collectorate.

What is the way ahead?

Immediate Response - The public need to be compensated for their losses and a dialogue needs to be initiated with the affected communities.
More importantly, the inquiry commission constituted to examine the killings needs to examine the chilling use of disproportionate lethal force.
Notably, the use of snipers raises the suspension of selective and premeditated killing of protestors, and hardly seems to be a riot control measure.
The basis on which firing orders were given and the failure of police to appropriately intervene to resolve the crisis needs to be probed.
Addressing Concerns - Madras High Court has presently restrained Sterlite from its proposed capacity expansion plan till further orders.
A credible environmental audit should be undertaken, without compromising on the ‘polluter pays’ principle.
The TNPCB, which usually scores poorly on transparency, should commission credible experts to assess the quality of air and water in Thoothukudi.

Source: The Hindu