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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | What was done with the Rs 100 crore fine Vedanta paid for Sterlite violations? Not much, finds RTI query -Priyanka Thirumurthy

What was done with the Rs 100 crore fine Vedanta paid for Sterlite violations? Not much, finds RTI query -Priyanka Thirumurthy

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published Published on May 29, 2018   modified Modified on May 29, 2018
-TheNewsMinute.com

The SC had ordered for the interest from to penalty to be spent for improving the environment, including water and soil, of the vicinity of the plant.

Over the last five years, the Thoothukudi district administration has failed to not only address the angst of residents over pollution by Sterlite copper but also to utilise funds to improve the environment in the vicinity of the plant, government documents received under RTI show. Of the Rs 100 crore deposited by Sterlite industries as penalty for violating pollution control and environment norms in 2013, only Rs 7 crore has been spent.

The Supreme Court had directed that the compensation that was being levied for polluting the environment and operating the plant without consent, should be deposited by the Thoothukudi Collector in a fixed deposit. The court reportedly ordered that “The interest should be spent for improving the environment, including water and soil, of the vicinity of the plant after consultation with TNPCB and approval of the Secretary, Environment, Government of Tamil Nadu.”

Today this money has grown to whopping Rs 141 crores but the district administration has sanctioned only 33 projects, of which 14 have been completed. It was deposited in July 2013 in a State bank of India branch.

Funds not channelled correctly

According to an RTI reply from the Thoothukudi administration, the funds were not even channelled for the cause determined by the Apex court. Instead, they were utilised for check dams, protective walls, ground water recharging units, rainwater harvesting structures, construction of wards at government-run hospitals in the region, ultrasound scan machines and even for the construction of parks, one of them at the Collectorate campus.

"Projects undertaken using the penalty amount appear to have been projected as part of Sterlite Copper's CSR. For instance, Rs. 30 lakhs was sanctioned, and Rs. 27 lakh spent on 'construction and formation of park at Collectorate Campus, Thoothukudi.' Until protestors defaced it in March 2018, the park sported several sign-boards advertising Sterlite Copper," says Nityanand Jayaraman, the environmental activist who filed the RTI.

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TheNewsMinute.com, 29 May, 2018, https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/what-was-done-rs-100-crore-fine-vedanta-paid-sterlite-violations-not-much-finds-rti-query


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