Sterlite got green clearance after TN pollution panel nod: Official
New Delhi, May 25: The Union Environment Ministry had given clearance to the controversial Sterlite plant in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi after getting a go-ahead from the state pollution control board, an official said on Friday, dismissing the allegations that the Central government had directly cleared the copper smelting unit.
"No unit can operate in India, primarily, without the environmental clearance by the local pollution control board and this forms the basis for us to give environmental clearances," the official said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media over the issue.
He, however, admitted that no public consultation had been conducted when the clearance was given in 2009.
The plant on Tuesday triggered the widespread protest in Thoothukudi, in which the death toll has rised to 13. The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered a stay on the expansion of the copper plant.
In reply to a question on why the plant had not been initially ordered to shut down, the official said: "We need to check the records (to know that)."
"We have already sought a report from the District Collector and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board," said the official on the sidelines of a curtain raiser press conference in the run-up to World Environment Day by Environment Forest and Climate Change Minister Harsh Vardhan.
The minister, however, refused to take media queries about the violence and the operations of the Vedanta-run copper plant.
"Let's stick to the theme and do not deviate from the topic," he said in reply to questions about the issue.
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Man uses fake identity to enter premises of atomic energy dept's institute in Indore; detained
Indore, Nov 5: A suspended employee of the postal department has been detained for allegedly using a fake identity to enter the high-security premises of a premier institute of the Department of Atomic Energy in Indore, police said on Tuesday.
The man was suspended while serving as a postal assistant at the city's general post office in 2022, additional deputy commissioner of police Alok Kumar Sharma said.
The man allegedly posed as a director of the postal department to enter the post office on the premises of Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RR-CAT) on Monday, he said.
Sharma said the accused informed the staffers at the post office that he had come to conduct an audit and inspection.
"Based on a complaint by an official at the post office, the man has been detained and questioned," he said, adding that the man was speaking deceitfully during interrogation.
The official said all angles would be probed to find out why the accused entered the campus.
Another official said the police recovered fake identity cards of a 'Marcos Commando' of the Ministry of Defence and a superintendent (Investigation) of the National Intelligence Bureau, Cyber Security Cell from the accused.
The man has been booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), the official said.
