TN has not understood essence of groundwater report: Centre tells HC

The Centre Thursday informed the Madras High Court that the Tamil Nadu government has not understood properly the essence of its 'Groundwater Quality Report' released after assessing water quality in and around the area where the Sterlite Copper Industry was located in Tuticorin.

The conclusions arrived at by the Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) has not ruled out pollution by the Sterlite Copper Smelting Plant nor does it, at any point contradict the findings of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board investigations, CGWB regional director C Paul Prabhakar said in a counter-affidavit.

The state government had approached the court seeking quashing of the groundwater quality report released in July.

A division bench of justices M M Sundresh and Krishnan Ramasamy, before which the counter was filed, posted further hearing of the matter to November 19.

In his counter, Paul Prabhakar submitted that "As the scientific team could not enter the premises of Sterlite Copper Industry for collection of samples, it was not possible for them to establish a direct linkage between the ground water contamination and the effluent seepage from the plant as has been stated in the report."
The state government has rejected the report on groundwater contamination in Tuticorin, saying it was "absolutely vague" and seemed to support the Vedanta Ltd unit which was "totally unwarranted."