According to sources minor leak has been detected in the sulphuric acid storage plant in Vedanta’s south Indian copper smelter, a government official said on Sunday, about a month after the state ordered its shutdown after protests in which 13 people died. Earlier police opened fire on a crowd of protesters on May 22 calling for the shutdown on the grounds of pollution. Presently the Tamilnadu state government then ordered a permanent shutdown.
Accordingly a leakage was observed in the sulphuric acid storage plant. Sandeep Nanduri ,The district’s top administrative official, said “It doesn’t look problematic, but we have decided to evacuate the storage as a safety precaution”.
As per report Vedanta Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of Vedanta Resources PLC
which operates the smelter, did not immediately respond to a request seeking
comment. Moreover the smelter accounted for over a third of India’s refined
copper output, and India is set to see a rise in copper imports following the
shutdown. Sulphuric acid, a corrosive byproduct of smelting, is used by
fertilizer and chemical companies as a raw material.
