Earlier today, amidst the second wave of the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic, Vedanta-owned Sterlite Copper has offered to restart production at its two oxygen plants in the now shut copper smelter at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu. Vedanta said that the plant contains two oxygen plants with a combined production capacity of 1,050 tonnes of oxygen daily.
Interestingly, while the Oxygen requirement of India has gone up 7 times, from 700 tonnes per day to 5,000 tonnes per day, the Tamil Nadu government has opposed the plea of the Vedanta-owned Sterlite Copper plant. The central government has reportedly supported the proposal by Sterlite to open their oxygen plants so the increased demand in India can be met amidst the raging pandemic.
Vedanta, in the Supreme Court, was being represented by senior advocate Harish Salve. He submitted before the Supreme Court that If Vedanta was allowed to re-open in Tamil Nadu, the oxygen produced could help the country. The Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, said that the country is in dire need of oxygen and that the court should allow Vedanta at least just to re-open their Oxygen manufacturing unit.
Opposing this, the state government said that Vedanta was closed due to environmental concerns and that there is a “trust deficit” between the company and the people of Tamil Nadu.
While it is interesting that the Tamil Nadu state government seems to be far more concerned about the environmental concerns, real or imagined, if Vedanta opens again, it does not seem to bothered about how many people the additional 1000 tonnes of oxygen could help.
While the state of Tamil Nadu indulged in politics in this respect, NDTV journalists also chimed in to make comments against Harish Salve, who was representing Vedanta in the Supreme Court.
How nice of Harish Salve to slip in an appeal to open Vedanta unit in Tuticorin that was closed due to environment concerns and violations.
— Gargi Rawat (@GargiRawat) April 22, 2021
Very smooth. Don't let a crisis go to waste 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 #COVID19 #OxygenCrisis https://t.co/jBp8cHhhDV
Gargi Rawat Ansari, who is married to Yusuf Ahmad Ansari, the great-grandson of former Congress President Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, took to Twitter to say, “How nice of Harish Salve to slip in an appeal to open Vedanta unit in Tuticorin that was closed due to environmental concerns and violations. Very smooth. Don’t let a crisis go to waste”.
Essentially, Gargi Rawat Ansari was essentially saying that the loss of lives due to a shortage of oxygen is acceptable as long as the environment, to whatever extent.
Interestingly, it was Ansari herself who was outraging about the lack of oxygen in various cities of India.
On the 20th of April, Gargi Rawat Ansari took to Twitter to outrage, rightfully so, about the lack of oxygen in Delhi and other parts of the country.
'Delhi Hospitals Say Down To Just Hours Of Oxygen'
— Gargi Rawat (@GargiRawat) April 20, 2021
Imagine in #Delhi !
We've known about this shortage for days now, when Minister Piyush Goyal defended the centre saying 110% oxygen production & how states must manage oxygen demand #COVIDSecondWave https://t.co/KlhHtR1fse
Even on the 16th of April, Gargi Rawat Ansari was talking about the shortage of oxygen and medicines.
India reports a record 2,17,353 daily coronavirus cases as many states grappled with shortages of hospital beds, oxygen, medicines and vaccine doses. The fresh cases in the deadly second wave took the total caseload to over 1.42 crore #CovidSecondWave https://t.co/5aqIgTD16R
— Gargi Rawat (@GargiRawat) April 16, 2021
Interestingly, after spending days outraging about the lack of oxygen and medicines, Gargi Rawat Ansari has now taken to Twitter to oppose a plant opening that can actually produce 1000 tonnes extra of oxygen that can cap the increased demand.
The cognitive dissonance with Gargi Rawat seems to be so strong, that within a span of 3 minutes, she managed to outrage against the support for Vedanta that has offered to produce additional oxygen and also outrage about the deaths due to COVID-19 happening in the country.
It is pertinent to note that the Vedanta-owned Sterlite Copper plant in Thoothukudi was shut down by Tamil Nadu in May 2018 following the violent protests staged by the locals and activists, who alleged that the plant posed serious health hazards.
Though the plant later got clearance by the National Green Tribunal, the state government approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the National Green Tribunals order. The apex court stayed the order of the NGT and allowed Sterlite Copper to approach the Madras High Court, which upheld the government order. The case is now in the Supreme Court with Sterlite Copper challenging the Madras High Court verdict. The company’s plea to access the plant for just maintenance purposes has also not been entertained by the court so far.
The closure of the Sterlite Copper plant had such widespread ramifications that it made the country an importer of copper cathodes from being one of the top five exporters.
The left propaganda against the Tuticorin plant seems to be far more important than human lives amidst the pandemic for the usual suspects from NDTV and beyond even though the Green Tribunal has given the plant clearance. However, it seems like if the actual shortage of oxygen is solved in India and human lives are saved, the left cabal would have paltry little to create their propaganda on. Given the Left’s propensity to build political castles on the dead bodies of Indian citizens, one has to agree with Gargi there.. ‘Don’t let a crisis go to waste’.
