Sad, Extremely Unfortunate: Vedanta’s Anil Agarwal on Sterlite Row

Agarwal added that ‘his full sympathies lay with the families’ who had lost their kin over the Sterlite protests.

Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal. 

(Photo: IANS)

Over 48 hours after 13 people were killed in Tuticorin for protesting against the Vedanta Copper Sterlite plant in the city, the group’s executive chairman Anil Agarwal broke his silence to issue a statement, expressing his ‘pain’ over the unfortunate turn of events.

Agarwal said he was ‘very sad to hear of what happened in Tuticorin’, and that ‘his full sympathies lay with the families’.

Referring to the court-ordered closure of the plant as an ‘annual shutdown’, Agarwal added that he was awaiting clearance from the government and court to restart it.

Adding that he was fully committed to the people and community of Tuticorin, he said:

We always make sure the community and the Tuticorin people at large prosper with us. I’m totally committed for the community and the people at large. And with their wishes and prosperity we would like to continue this business. 

Promising to abide by every law of the land, he said that the company stood for the prosperity of the community at large.

Reiterating his ‘pain’, he closed by saying:

Once again, I am very much in pain over what happened yesterday.