Thoothukudi district administration office has sent officials to examine the Vedanta owned Sterlite Copper Plant's sulphuric acid leak reported in a storage unit of the plant which was sealed. Chemicals and hazardous waste from the place will be removed, said the Thoothukudi Collector Sandeep Nanthuri.
The location was visited by a special team consisting of Sub-Collector M.S. Prasanth, who is a District Environment Engineer belonging to the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, Besides officials from Revenue and Fire departments. Sterlite Copper has applied requested to the state government to offer limited access to a smelter for performing mandatory safety audits to avoid chemical leak incidents though the government is yet to give permission for the same.
Collector has said that since the Government has ordered to seal the plant, district authorities have no authority to allow Sterlite to perform audits without orders from TN government. It must be noted that the Tamil Nadu government had ordered the sealing and permanent closure of Sterlite Copper factory, after violence in the district lead to the killing of 14 people by policemen. The government had followed the TNPCB order to close the unit to safeguard the environment and the people.
