In a span of two years following the closure of Vedanta Group’s copper smelter in the southern city of Thoothukudi, India’s copper imports have risen by 3.5 times, as per the Government of India.
Minister of Mines and Coal Prahlad Joshi in reply to a parliamentary question said that imports of copper rose to 151, 964 tons in 2019-20.
The Thoothukudi copper smelter, which accounted for around 40% of India’s copper demand, was closed in May 2018 following a police firing on protestors in which 13 people died and 102 were injured. The protest was over an ongoing expansion of the plant.
The smelter had a capacity of 400,000 tons of refined copper per year. Since the closure, the matter is under litigation and currently pending before the Supreme Court.
While protestors have alleged that the copper smelter will cause pollution, Vedanta Group’s Sterlite Copper denies the allegations of environmental violations.
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