PTI, TUTICORIN/CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin town was on the boil again today, with a man shot dead in police firing following fresh clashes between security personnel and locals demanding closure of a copper factory over pollution concerns, a day after police action left 10 protesters dead.
In the line of Opposition fire, the state government constituted a Commission of Inquiry headed by retired Madras High Court judge Aruna Jagadeesan to probe the violence.
The Union Home Ministry has, meanwhile, sought a report from the Tamil Nadu government on the circumstances leading to police firing on protesters demanding the closure of Vedanta group’s Sterlite Copper plant, which they claim had polluted ground water in the area, official sources said in New Delhi.
Taking cognizance of the large-scale violence, the National Human Rights Commission issued notices to Tamil Nadu chief secretary and the director general of police, asking them to submit a detailed report in two weeks, while the Madras High Court stayed the proposed expansion of the plant.
Enraged over yesterday’s killings, protesters took to streets this morning, attacking police with stones, setting two government vehicles on fire, and trying to storm into a hospital where injured were kept, prompting security personnel to baton-charge them and open fire, officials said.
Several people, including police personnel, were injured in clashes.
Seeking to control the damage done due to police action, the government announced constitution of the Jagadeesan commission of inquiry.
