An inspection team found a leakage of sulphuric acid at a godown of the Sterlite copper plant in Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu on Sunday. District collector Sandeep Nanduri described the leak as “minor” and said there was “no need to panic”, PTI reported.
“The process to remove the leakage from the warehouse has started,” Nanduri said, according to ANI. “All necessary security protocols are being followed.”
The security staff at the plant had spotted the leak on Saturday evening, after which a team was formed to inspect the unit. The team, comprising Sub-Collector MS Prasanth, the district environment engineer of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, and officials from the Revenue and Fire departments, found the leak after a two-hour inspection, reported The Hindu.
The plant has been sealed but security staff and police conduct routine inspections every day, a spokesperson of Sterlite told The Hindu.
The quantity of sulphuric acid present in the plant is not known, Nanduri said, adding that it would take a day to get rid of it.
The government had ordered the permanent closure of the plant after 13 people participating in a protest against its operations were killed in police firing on May 22 and May 23.
For more than two decades, activists in Thoothukudi have accused Sterlite of contaminating the region’s air and water resources and causing breathing disorders, skin diseases, heart conditions and cancer. Since February, there were large-scale protests against the company’s copper smelter, which had the capacity to produce 4.38 lakh tonnes of anodes per annum, or 1,200 tonnes per day.
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