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Sterlite plant recommences operations

The recommissioning of the 13 billion copper smelter plant of Sterlite industries at Tuticorin commenced on Wednesday evening following the Tamil Nadu government's clearance to reopen the unit 40 days after the July 5 gas leak.

Sterlite President Ramalingam said in Madras on Wednesday night that it might take six days to start manufacturing of copper since the activation of the oxygen plant itself would take nearly four days.

Ambient air quality monitoring systems in and around the plant would be set up as directed by the government before the actual manufacturing operations begin, he added.

Meanwhile, a Tuticorin report quoting copper smelter unit managers said that electricity supply to the plant was restored on Wednesday evening consequent to the government's clearance.

Earlier on Wednesday, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi announced the government's decision to reporters at the secretariat.

The opening is subject to certain environmental safeguards in view of the four-member expert committee's finding that the gas leak could not have seen from the plant.

Round the clock monitoring of ambient air quality should be carried out for one year to detect parameters regarding the emission of gases. Nine stations should be set up around the plant to ensure monitoring of data on fugitive and stack emissions.

It said the plant should increase the stack exit velocity of gas to a minimum of 20 metres per second if it was not possible to increase the height of each stack. This should be implemented for three months from the date of reopening, it added.

More than 100 people, mostly girls working in a nearby unit, were hospitalised following the gas leak. The district administration and the state pollution control broad had ordered closure of the Sterlite plant the next day. The four-member committee of experts from the Annamalai University in Chidambaram, had later visited the plant for an on-the-spot study.

Meanwhile, Marualartchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam General Secretary V Gopalasamy on Thursday condemned the Tamil Nadu government's decision to reopen the Sterlite plant and said his party would go ahead with the Sterlite besiege agitation on August 30.

He said the committee, set up by the state government to probe into the leak incident, did not comprise environmental experts.

However, she pointed out that an expert from international Green Peace movement had expressed himself against the setting up of the plant, stating that the statistics taken into account by the Tamil Nadu pollution control board while sanctioning the plant, were not correct.

Gopalasamy termed as one-sided the committee's finding that the gas leak was from another company adjacent to the Sterlite plant.

He alleged that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government had struck a deal with the company for allowing the plant to reopen.

EARLIER REPORT: Karunanidhi to decide on Sterlite's fate

UNI