TNPCB’s closure order was challenged by Sterlite in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in November 2018, following which the tribunal ordered the plant to be reopened. However, this order was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2019 on the ground that the NGT has no jurisdiction to entertain appeals against the orders of the state government.
In August 2020, the Madras High Court upheld the orders of TNPCB and Tamil Nadu government. In December that year, the Supreme Court had refused to grant any interim relief to Sterlite.
At the peak of the second wave of the Covid pandemic in May 2021, the Tamil Nadu government allowed the plant to operate Four months To produce medical oxygen.
Read also: In Tuticorin, Sterlite Copper is working hard to tackle new medical oxygen supplier Avatar
Impact on Downstream Businesses, Capital Expenditure
Through its study, CUTS also sought to establish the indirect impact that the Indian economy suffered in the form of job losses and losses to the stakeholders associated with the plant since the closure of the plant.
The study found that around 400 downstream businesses were associated with the copper plant, employing about 100,000 people who were affected by the plant’s closure. “The net estimated impact of the cost of their procurement on all downstream businesses since the closure of the copper plant is about Rs 491 crore,” the report said.
Another objective of the report was to assess the quantum of revenue generated from the plant shutdown and its impact on the government’s capital expenditure.
The report uses the capital expenditure multiplier to estimate the induced economic impact of the five cases, including the Sterlite plant closures mentioned above. It assumes a capital expenditure multiplier of 2.45, which means that for every Re 1 spent by the Government of India for public utilities, the economy gains Rs 2.45.
“The crux of this report was a more informed and evidence-based approach to judicial decisions,” Amol Kulkarni, director-research at Cutts International, told ThePrint.
Vedanta looking for plant buyers
Vedanta is in the process of selling off the copper plant due to losses as a result of the shutdown. According to chairman Anil Agarwal, the company has received bids from seven players.
in one Interview with business standardAgarwal said protests against the plant for alleged environmental damage were “political or NGO-driven”, and probably funded by the “Chinese”.
“For us, the most important thing is to get approval so that the company can start. We are talking to potential buyers and have received bids from seven players – both international and domestic. They have found that things have become more positive on the ground. business standard,
“I only know that India cannot afford to shut down this plant. They can bring more rules. It is loss of a country, loss of job and loss of revenue. We have Sesa Goa, where the government has lost around $30 billion. Most of it is NGO-run.”
The size of the Indian copper industry (consumption of refined copper per year) is about 6.6 lakh tonnes, which is only 3 per cent of the world copper market. A report by the Ministry of Mines, Madhya Pradesh has the largest reserves of copper ore in India, followed by Karnataka, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.