M. K. Stalin visits injured anti-Sterlite protestors

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working president M. K. Stalin visited a government hospital on Wednesday to meet the people, who were injured during the anti-Sterlite protests.

One person was killed and three others got injured earlier yesterday as fresh violence broke out in Anna Nagar, thus taking the death toll of the Sterlite protest incident to 12.
Earlier, the Tamil Nadu government had transferred the district collector, N. Venkatesh, and superintendent of police P. Mahendran.

Sandeep Nanduri has been appointed as the new collector of Thoothukudi district. Murali Rambha, meanwhile, will take over Mahendran as the new superintendent of police of the district. Additional security was deployed outside the Thoothukudi General Hospital after a bus was set ablaze there by protesters.

On Tuesday, 11 people were killed and over 65 got injured during protests against the construction of a new copper smelter by the Sterlite industries in Thoothukudi.
The agitation turned violent after protesters were barred from marching up to the plant, due to which they began to pelt stones and toppled police vehicles.
In retaliation, police officials resorted to lathi-charge and tear gas to disperse the crowd to contain the situation.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had earlier announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the kin of the deceased, Rs 3 lakh for the severely injured and Rs 1 lakh for those who sustained minor injuries. Palaniswami also announced government jobs for the family of the deceased.

Meanwhile, a commission headed by a retired High Court judge has been constituted to probe the incident.The locals are up in arms against the construction of the copper plant, claiming that it would pollute groundwater in their area and cause serious environmental hazards.

(ANI)