July 26: Members of the anti-Sterlite movement on Monday locked the Thoothukudi district collectorate demanding the state government to initiate criminal action against heads responsible for the massive tax evasion and to ban Sterlite’s industrial activities in the state.
Led by the district secretaries of the CPI, BSP and MDMK, advocates and members of various fishermen groups and environmentalists thronged the collectorate saying Sterlite had evaded duty of Rs 750 crore.
As district collector G. Prakash refused to come out of the hall where he was attending to a public grievance day meeting, to receive the petition from the agitators, they staged a sit-in protest and shouted slogans against Sterlite and also against Mr Prakash.
The agitators then locked the main door of the collectorate and continued their demonstration by squatting outside. They compelled the villagers who had come to petition the collector about their grievances to join them.
The police, deployed to evict the agitators and open the locked door, pleaded with the agitators to disperse. After about an hour, as the collector did not come out, the demonstrators burnt the copies of the petition and dispersed.
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