Respite for Sterlite; copper smelter online after 3 months.

After 3 months, Sterlite 's copper smelter in Tuticurin is back online. With a clean chit from the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the company's expansion plans have also received a fillip reports CNBC-TV18's Poornima Murali.

This copper smelter, belonging to Sterlite Industries, is India's largest and is crucial to the company's operations and to copper-dependent industries, as it produces close to 30,000 tonnes of copper a month. So when it was shutdown for nearly 3 months following anti-pollution protests, the hit was palpable.

After being shut for 85 days, this copper smelter has now come online. It caters to 45 percent of India's copper requirement and has been a major source for country's infrastructure.

According to experts, the shutdown has not only resulted in a slowdown in pace at which crucial infrastructure projects are coming along, it has also led to the companies having to switch to more expensive imported copper from China. But with the plant up and running, some of this pressure should ease soon.

Despite protestor claims that this smelter is the worst source of pollution in the district, it has received a clean chit from the NGT. So Sterlite, which has lost around Rs 4,000 crores in revenues due to this shutdown, is now eager to embark on plans to expand the plant and double capacity.

P Ramnath, CEO, Sterlite (copper smelter) says that Rs 2500-3000 crore expansion plan will double the capacity sterlite on expansion path

The company also says it has invested Rs 500 crore in addressing pollution-related issues. But residents of the district whose anti-pollution protests have forced the plant to shutdown five times in the last 17 years are not feeling very reassured.

To allay these fears, the authorities have set up a committee to conduct inspections at this and other plants that are coming up.

Aashish Kumar, district collector, member, panel inspecting industries in Tuticorin says “The main problem is pollution. We have formed a committee to inspect industries in Tuticurin.”

But Sterlite maintains that contrary to allegations that it discharges waste water into the sea, this is world's only "zero discharge" smelter. Now the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has moved the Supreme Court against the clean chit given by the NGT. But Sterlite is confident that the case will go in its favour and once expansion is complete, its Rs1,800 crore contribution to the state exchequer will go up further.

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