Sterlite Industries has to shut down its copper smelting plant in Tuticorin, due to the “negative impact of running of the industry at the place and in the manner it is being run” said a Madras High Court division bench.

The judges said: “The materials on record show that the continuing air pollution being caused by the noxious effluents discharged into air by the company is having a devastating effect on the people living in the surroundings. There has been unabated pollution by the respondent company, which should be stopped at least now so as to protect the Mother Nature.”

“The pathetic condition that has been recorded by NEERI [National Environmental Engineering Research Institute] in its report is that the plant site itself is severely polluted and the ground samples present levels of arsenic which indicate that the whole site may be classified as hazardous waste according to Indian standards,” they added. Out of work Sterlite Employees would be entitled to compensation from Sterlite under Section 25 FFF of the Industrial Disputes Act.

Full article and details at Hindu Business Line.