T.N. govt should oppose Vedanta’s tungsten mining in Madurai to avoid another Thoothukudi Sterlite tragedy: activists

Protesters demand State government to deny Hindustan Zinc Limited permission to mine tungsten in eco-sensitive areas.

Environmentalists, activists and residents of Melur and nearby areas on Monday staged a demonstration here demanding that the State government deny permission to Hindustan Zinc Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta group, to mine tungsten in about 5,000 acres of land comprising eco-sensitive areas.

They handed over a petition to Collector M.S. Sangeetha. 

As the company recently won an auction to mine a tungsten block in Nayakkarpatti in the district, the protesters alleged that the company had a notorious history of destroying people’s livelihoods wherever it had its units or factories.  

In several of the locations such as South Africa and in some parts of India where the company had its mines, more than 60 lives had been lost in addition to destruction of the surrounding eco-system by breaking rules of that land, they added. 

R.S. Mugilan, an environmental activist, told media persons that the same company which had its copper smelting unit in Thoothukudi, in addition to polluting the air and water there, strongly influenced the government to the extent of killing 13 people who protested against the plant.  

“The same situation could arise here when the plant with immense clout and connection is opposed for its anti-people and anti-environment activities,” he added.  

In order to divert people’s attention from the auction, the Ministry of Mines cleverly released a press statement mentioning only Nayakkarpatti village, which hardly had 20 houses, he further said.