Thoothukudi, India – She spearheaded a decades-long campaign against a copper smelter over alleged environmental contamination in the south Indian seaside town of Thoothukudi.
Sterlite Copper, the Indian subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, a global mining and metals conglomerate, was forced to shut its plant in 2018, thanks to a sustained and spirited fight led by 67-year-old teacher-turned activist Fatima Babu.
The plant’s shuttering, said Fatima, “has boosted the morale of the townspeople, which is a very very big thing for us”. “But we would want Sterlite to pay for the damage it has done.”
On May 22, 2018, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Thoothukudi against a proposed expansion of Sterlite’s 400,000-tonne annual capacity smelter, but the police opened fire, killing at least 13 protesters. It was the deadliest environmental protest of the year in the country. The police justified their action saying the protesters pelted stones and burned their
London-based Vedanta Resources (VRL) has raised its stake in its India listed unit, Vedanta to 55.11 per cent by buying from open market shares worth Rs 2,959 crore. VRL bought 18.5 crore shares at a price of Rs 159.94 per share, the company said in a statement on its website. It made the purchase through block deals. The purchase of shares in the open market helped the firm raise its stake in Vedanta to 55.11 per cent from the current 50.13 per cent. The move comes weeks after the firm s failed attempt to delist Vedanta Ltd from Indian stock exchanges. The delisting failed due to an insufficient number of shares being offered in the buyback proposal of VRL.