This story is from May 25, 2022
Medha Patkar
on Tuesday said that the Tamil Nadu CM should never allowSterlite Copper
to reopen, which would amount to real justice being served to the victims of police firing. She told reporters inTuticorin
that the court hearing on the police firing case is dragging on.She was speaking ahead of a workshop organized by the anti-sterlite movement in connection with the fourth anniversary of the Tuticorin police firing which claimed 13 lives. Apart from Medha Patkar, Tuticorin MP Kanimozhi, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan, SDPI state president Nellai Mubarak, May 17 movement’s Thirumurugan Gandhi, Pachai Tamilagam party presidentS P Udayakumar
, environmental activist Sundararajan from Poovulagin Nanbargal and others paid floral tributes to the victims.Medha told reporters that the CBI inquiry was one-sided as it framed people as culprits while not naming any police official who carried out the shooting. CBI’s report only proves that the agency is no more neutral and honest. But the Tamil Nadu government has entrusted the investigation to the CBI, she said. She said Sterlite was rejected in Maharashtra and Gujarat and people of Tuticorin have also rejected it. Chief Minister Stalin should never allow the factory to function. Earlier, Medha and S P Udayakumar visited the site at Udangudi where the thermal power plant is coming up. She warned that the thermal power plant would cause serious damage to the environment and affect the livelihood of 70 more villages around it.