Breaking his silence over the killing of 11 people in police firing in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami today accused rival political parties of "instigating" violence.
The chief minister said power supply to the plant was discontinued following a direction from the state's pollution control board.
Palaniswami claimed some anti-social elements had infiltrated the anti-Sterlite plant protesters and unleashed violence.
Terming the incidents as "unfortunate," he condoled the deaths and said all past agitations for the closure of the plant were peaceful.
"This time round it (protest) turned violent. It was due to instigation by some political parties and owing to infiltration by anti-social elements," Palaniswamy, who is under relentless attack from the Opposition, said.
Recalling steps taken by the AIADMK governments for the closure of the plant, Palaniswami said the "deliberate" violence was meant "to bring disrepute to the government and put it under pressure".
More From This Section
He said the state government was making efforts for the closure of the plant since 2013, when late J Jayalalithaa was the chief minister.
"As far as Amma's government is concerned, we respect people's feelings," he said, adding all legal steps were under way to shut the Sterlite plant, and cases were pending before the Supreme Court and High Court.
Last month, he said, the Pollution Control Board did not renew the Consent to Operate (CTO) the Sterlite Copper's plant. The copper smelting unit was not functional, he said, seeking to assuage people's concerns over the factory polluting ground water in the area.
He deplored that despite the government's efforts for the closure of the factory, "people belonging to some outfits and opposition parties are instigating innocent people".
The chief minister said district authorities have had 14 meetings with the agitators over the past 4-5 months where they explained to the locals steps being undertaken to shut the plant.
He said advertisements were published in newspapers on April 14 detailing measures the government had taken for its closure.
The port city of Tuticorin, about 600 km from state capital Chennai, witnessed large-scale violence and arson on Tuesday which led to the killing of 10 people in police firing. Violent protests erupted once again yesterday, prompting police to open fire again, killing one person.