Sterlite Industries (India) (SIIL) has dismantled the controversial seaward pipeline at its upcoming blister copper plant in Tuticorin on the southern Tamil Nadu coast, in response to the findings of an expert group appointed by the state government.
K S Sripathy, secretary in the state department of environment and forests, said here today that Sterlite had been asked to carry out all the 12 recommendations of the three-member committee, which had listed as many shortfalls in the pollution control systems at the plant, even while giving an overall nod to the project.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) was closely monitoring the progress of the corrective measures being taken at the plant and had reported that the pipeline had already been removed, Sripathy said.
The pipeline was constructed for discharging liquid effluents from the plant into the sea, but was lying unused as the company decided to recycle the waste. In this context, the expert panel wanted Sterlite to dismantle the pipeline, 'in order to give more confidence to the inhabitants in the area, who had expressed fears about an adverse environmental impact of the liquid waste.'
Sterlite is setting up a plant to manufacture blister copper and allied materials and work is progressing in two phases, at the end of which the unit would produce 391 tonnes per day (tpd) of blister copper, 1060 tpd of sulphuric acid and 350 tpd of phosphoric acid, besides a number of by-products.
Sripathy said the government would not tolerate any deviation by the Sterlite plant from the norms set down by the panel, comprising A A Khan, B Pitchumani and H G Joglekar, all experts in chemical technology.
The PCB, an autonomous body under the government, was following up Sterlite's response on a day-to-day basis and the government would not like to directly intervene anymore in the matter, he added. Asked about the setting up of effluent treatment plants by the leather tanneries in the state, the environment secretary said, no tannery would be allowed to function without an effluent treatment plant after this year-end.
