As Thoothukudi continues to grapple with the economic aftershocks of the Sterlite Copper plant’s closure in 2018, the Sterlite Action Council has launched a large-scale signature campaign across the district, formally expressing public support for the reopening of the facility under Sterlite’s proposed Green Copper framework.
The campaign, led by an action group comprising local workers, transporters, fisherfolk, traders, and small business owners, aims to petition the Tamil Nadu and Central governments, the Chief Minister, and other key stakeholders. Their demand is unequivocal: reopen the plant, but under a reimagined model that places environmental responsibility, public trust, and community welfare at its core.
For many residents, the shutdown did not merely halt an industrial operation but it also dismantled an entire local economic ecosystem. Before 2018, the plant supported around 4,000 direct jobs and nearly 20,000 indirect livelihoods, sustaining contractors, truck drivers, logistics operators, vendors, and service providers across the region. S. Eswaran, State President of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Traders Association, pointed to the scale of the disruption, estimating that up to one lakh people were affected. While acknowledging earlier allegations of pollution and water misuse, he argued that claims of health impacts were “amplified through coordinated campaigns,” and that the region’s recovery now hinges on reopening the plant with firm, enforceable guarantees for community welfare.
Deeper issue
Six years after the closure, the loss of the plant’s economic engine is still being felt across Thoothukudi, with supporters describing the signature campaign as a grassroots response to prolonged job losses rather than corporate advocacy. S. Murugan, Joint Secretary of the Tuticorin District Lorry Association, highlighted the severe financial distress faced by transporters after the shutdown. “Public fears triggered the protests, but the deeper issue was broken communication and unmet commitments,” he said, adding that any reopening must be tied to binding CSR obligations, local hiring, and infrastructure investment.
The campaign has gathered momentum with the Madras High Court hearing to consider matters related to Vedanta’s proposed Green Copper plant in Thoothukudi. For many residents, the hearing represents a potential path toward reconciling environmental sustainability with responsible industrial development. Community and industry representatives argue that the moment calls for a structured, transparent evaluation rather than a return to polarised debate. Robert Villavarayar, a leader from the Tuticorin fishermen community, said reopening must be accompanied by a comprehensive support package for coastal communities. “We advocate for reopening based on three pillars: securing livelihoods through periodic fishing kits, ensuring well-being through access to education and healthcare, and providing direct financial aid for community development,” he said.
At the heart of the campaign is Sterlite’s Green Copper proposal, which supporters describe as a fundamental redesign of how copper is produced. The plan centres on a cleaner production process that prioritises recycled copper and energy-efficient technologies, significantly reducing emissions, waste, and overall resource consumption. It also envisioned the permanent shutdown of high-impact legacy units, eliminating gypsum waste accumulation, excessive logistics movement, and water stress. Air quality safeguards form another key pillar, with advanced emission-control systems designed to achieve globally benchmarked sulphur capture and ultra-low stack emissions. Water use is restructured through water-positive operations that rely on desalination and treated wastewater, ensure complete recycling of process water, and allow surplus water to be shared locally. To address concerns of transparency and accountability, the proposal includes community oversight through a local governance committee responsible for health monitoring and continuous engagement with residents. Supporters say the restart would also generate diversified, skilled employment across manufacturing, recycling, logistics, MSMEs, and services not only in Thoothukudi, but across Tamil Nadu.
Supporters say the framework reflects lessons learned from the past and reframes the debate beyond a binary of jobs versus the environment. As the signature campaign builds and with the court hearing, the Green Copper proposal has come to represent, for many in Thoothukudi, a test of whether India can pursue industrial revival without repeating old mistakes—anchoring economic recovery in climate responsibility, accountability, and local consent in a future increasingly defined by environmental limits.
(The author is a PhD Research Scholar from BITS Pilani.)
Published on February 8, 2026
