'Myth company lets out effluents in ocean, nefarious elements infiltrated villages': Sterlite CEO P Ramnath to CNBC-TV18

Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin town was on the boil again on Wednesday, with a man shot dead in police firing following fresh clashes between security personnel and locals demanding a closure of a copper factory over pollution concerns, a day after police action left 10 protesters dead.

File image of P Ramnath. Image courtesy: Twitter

In the line of Opposition fire, the state government constituted a Commission of Inquiry headed by retired Madras High Court judge Aruna Jagadeesan to probe the violence and shunted out the collector and superintendent of police of Tuticorin.

Reacting to the day's events, Sterlite Copper CEO P Ramnath told CNBC-TV18 the company's plant has been operating in compliance with environmental laws. "It's a myth that the company is letting out effluents in the ocean", Ramnath said.

"The plant has been shut down for the past two months. Why has the issue just cropped up?" Ramnath asked, and added that nefarious elements have infiltrated the villages. He said that there may have been certain incidents that occurred in the initial few years and that the Supreme Court allowed the company to operate after the initial few years.

Ramnath further said the company management has been staying near the plant for the past 20 years, has engaged with the local community and ensured 70 percent jobs are from Tamil Nadu. Ramnath said the company certainly needed to step up the activity and engage with locals in Tuticorin.

With inputs from PTI