By Venkatachari Jagannathan
Chennai, Sep 10 (IANS): The closure of Vedanta Ltd's copper smelter plant - Sterlite Copper - in Tuticorin/Thoothukudi has had a cascading effect on its contractors, vendors and other players in the unorganised sector.
The contractors and vendors to whom IANS spoke said it is tough times for them resulting in a drastic fall in their revenues and in turn a loss of jobs for their workers.
Some of them are looking at the possibility of impleading themselves in the appeal preferred by Vedanta against the Madras High Court's decision to dismiss the company's plea to reopen the plant.
The Tamil Nadu government had ordered the copper smelter plant to be shut down in 2018 following a violent protest that led to the death of 13 persons in police firing.
It is also true that one swallow does not a summer make.
Similarly, the court's order of not allowing Vedanta to reopen its copper smelter unit on
environmental grounds does not mean that India or Tamil Nadu will not attract fresh investments.
As a matter of fact, the Tamil Nadu government has been signing Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with various investors.
The state government had said that out of the 304 industrial investment MoUs that were signed during the 2019 global investor meet, 81 projects have started commercial production and 191 projects are in various stages of commissioning.
However, many other businesses have been affected by the closure of the plant.
"We have about 80 members engaged in engineering, fabrication, printing and others. Prior to the Sterlite Copper unit's shut down our workforce was about 1,600 and it has come down now," said I. Lenin, President, Thoothukudi Industrial Suppliers
Association.
Lenin who owns Rali Engineering Works in Tuticorin, said two years back the company's
turnover was Rs 28 crore and it had about 90 workers.
Post Sterlite Copper's closure his turnover has come down to about Rs 6 crore and the workforce has been reduced to 50.
"The other problem is that the bankers have increased their interest rates saying that the turnover has come down. I had invested about Rs 50 lakhs in a machine hoping to cater to Sterlite's needs. But the machine is idle now while I have
to pay interest on the loan," Lenin said.
"Many of our association members have surrendered their vehicles bought on finance as they were not able to pay their vehicle loan dues. The vehicles were bought to cater to Sterlite's needs," said S. Thiagarajan, President, Thoothukudi Contractors
Association.
Thiagarajan said his own company had surrendered 10 vehicles.
According to him, every month about 1,300 trucks operated between Tuticorin Port and Sterlite Copper bringing imported goods.
And another 500 trucks would take out products from the plant every month.
The truck operations have now come to a halt and many owners have surrendered their vehicles impacting the livelihood of several drivers and cleaners.
"Though the plant is under closure for the past two years, there seems to be no visible change in the pollution level. There are several thermal coal plants in and around Tuticorin which adds to the air pollution," Thiagarajan said.
Citing the regular and contract workers numbering about 5,000 at the smelter unit he said several small shops and food stalls have gone out of business.
"The cash circulation in Tuticorin has come down
during the past two years," he added.
The company after paying full salaries to the unit staff till September 2019 decided to reduce the same, first by 10 per cent and then by 30 per cent from March 2020 and now 50 per cent, said an employee.
Those who come to office are paid 75 per cent of their original salary and those who are at home are paid 50 per cent.
"Many of the staff falling under the 50 per cent bracket have vacated their rented houses in Tuticorin and have gone back to their native place to manage the costs and bank loan dues," A. Dinesh Kumar, Deputy Manager, By Products, told IANS.
Two years back finding rented accommodation was difficult in the city but now the house owners are not able to find tenants, Kumar added.
Some staff have been transferred to Vedanta's other units and some have resigned.
"Many downstream units were also affected as they were not able to get supplies like sulphuric acid from Sterlite Copper which was one of the major producers," Kumar said.
Curiously, the 400,000 tonne Sterlite Copper smelter plant that has been operating for over
25 years with a cumulative investment of about Rs.3,000 crore and economically benefiting many people has no voice of support from the local people unconnected with the plant.
The staff and supporters of Sterlite Copper say it shows the efficiency of the vested interest groups that are against the unit and the opportunism of
the political parties.
"The closure has not affected the tourist taxi business. Life in Tuticorin is as usual. The factory has to be shut down," a tourist taxi driver told IANS over phone.
"There are many industrial units in Tuticorin and all cannot be said to be lily white when it comes to pollution. Voices are not raised against such units but why only against Sterlite. The one reason could be that it did not take the local
population along with it," an industrialist in Tuticorin told IANS preferring anonymity.
"A good number of workers were migrants instead of locals. So, the local connect and the local interest in the future of the plant was not there," he said.
Starting from the plant gates, to workers and even in the administration the staff were from the Hindi-speaking areas.
According to him, during the early years of the plant, there were local workers and officials which changed over a period of time.
Refuting that, a Vedanta employee told IANS: "Out of the 4,397 workers - regular and contract - and staff nearly 70 per cent are from Tamil Nadu and the balance from the rest of the country.
"The company had employed migrant labour and that may be one of the issues for the lack of local connect. For sometime the company made some donations to local religious festivals. The company also provided assistance to local schools.
Some schools refused the assistance," M. Pushparayan, an activist, told IANS.
"The local people think the environmental harm is more than the economic benefits that accrue to them and hope the Supreme Court would look at the reasons for which the smelter plant was shut down and uphold the Madras High Court order," Pushparayan added.
Had the company built a school or a college then over the past 25 years there would have been a strong local connect and support, the industrialist added.
The company could have looked around to see why others were not facing protests and taken corrective action.
According to him, Vedanta should have looked at local workers, local populace and pollution control.
There is a strong suspicion among the business associates of Vedanta and its employees that the sustained protest against the smelter plant was funded by vested interests.
"The government should probe the source of funds for the protestors. The emission norms are in the public domain. People can become auditors, check the emission levels and demand action instead of protesting and demanding its closure," Maria
Soosai Surekha, Deputy Manager, told IANS.
India used to be a net exporter of copper cathodes till FY18. Now with the closure of the Tuticorin smelter, the drop in domestic production has led to an increase in imports and a fall in exports.
The country has become a net importer of refined copper after 18 years spending about Rs 14,000 crore in forex.
The Sterlite Copper smelter plant accounts for 40 per cent of the country's copper smelting capacity. Production fell by 46.1 per cent during FY19 due to its closure in May 2018.