Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has cut power supply to the Sterlite Copper plant in Thoothukkudi, where police firing killed 12 protesters demanding the factory's permanent closure on Tuesday, chief minister E.K. Palanisamy has announced.
His comments came a day ahead of Friday's dawn-to-dusk state-wide shutdown called by the Opposition DMK, in preparation for which the government has suspended Internet services in three districts, banned assemblies and declared a "public emergency".
A high-level alert has been sounded across the state, with the intelligence agencies warning of possible attacks on public transport and railway tracks on Friday.
Palanisamy defended his government against the Opposition's charges of ignoring the public sentiment against the plant, citing how the state pollution control board had refused to renew its licence on April 9, causing it to stop operating.
He told journalists the management of the plant, the country's biggest copper smelter, had petitioned Madras High Court against the freeze on its licence.
On Wednesday, the high court had stayed the plant's expansion till a new public hearing was held and environmental clearance obtained.
Palanisamy said former chief minister Jayalalithaa had ordered the 22-year-old plant closed as far back as March 2013 but the National Green Tribunal came to its rescue. The state government's petition against the tribunal order is pending with the Supreme Court.
Asked why the administration let the protests spiral out of control on Tuesday, the chief minister said the crowds had been protesting peacefully over the past 100 days.
"It's only on Tuesday that anti-social elements infiltrated them and triggered violence," he alleged.
He said the police had no option but to use their batons, tear gas and eventually bullets after the protestors torched vehicles and vandalised the district collectorate.
Palanisamy said the district authorities had held talks with the protesters 14 times and published the decision not to renew the plant's licence in all the newspapers.
"We made every effort to enlighten the public and have always been mindful of the sentiments of the public," he said, accusing "selfish leaders" of instigating the mobs.
The death toll went up to 13 on Wednesday after renewed protests by the victims' families led to fresh police firing. About a dozen people who suffered serious injuries in the two days' firing are being treated in a government hospital.
Gagandeep Singh Bedi and P.W. Davidar, senior IAS officers deputed by the government to monitor the situation at Thoothukkudi (Tuticorin), told reporters that normality was returning to the port town.
Several Opposition leaders, including DMK working president M.K. Stalin, were taken into custody on Thursday morning when they blocked a road near the state secretariat.
Stalin said the protests would continue till the chief minister resigned owning moral responsibility for the police firing. Many shops downed their shutters on Thursday and black flags were hoisted at various places condemning the firing.
The police have registered cases against Stalin, Vaiko (MDMK), Thol Thirumavalavan (VCK) and actor turned politician Kamal Haasan (Makkal Neethi Mayyam) for violating prohibitory orders and visiting the injured at the Thoothukkudi government hospital.
Internet services have been suspended in Thoothukkudi, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts to prevent the spread of rumours.
Local people say the plant is polluting the groundwater, affecting farming within a 50km radius and causing diseases from cancer to rashes.
