Thaindian News

Chennai/New Delhi, Oct 18 (IANS) As anti-nuclear activists Tuesday resumed their protest at Kudankulam and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said she doubted New Delhi’s intentions, a defensive central government said it was duty-bound to allay the people’s fears on the proposed nuclear project.

Jayalalithaa said Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy had said the state overnment had yet to submit its list of names to the expert panel to be constituted by the central government.

In a statement released here, she said the actions of the central government led to the suspicion that it wanted to blame the state government for the Kudankulam problem - people demanding that the Rs.13,000 nuclear power project in Tirunelveli district, about 650 km from Chennai, be scrapped.

Jayalalithaa said her government was firm on its stand that the people’s fears about the project should be allayed and till then, project activities should be halted.

As the central government had not done that, the locals had been forced to resume their agitation, she said, urging New Delhi to take urgent steps to solve the problem instead of blaming the state government.

Only the central government and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) had full knowledge about the safety aspects of the project and it was the former’s responsibility to allay the people’s fears about the project, she said.

Jayalalithaa also attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for releasing to the media his letters purportedly written to her but not sending them to her first.

The activists, several of whom are sitting on a fast at Idinthakarai village — the epicenter of the agitation that is shaking the country’s nuclear establishment — welcomed Jayalalithaa’s statement.

“…she is right in her demand. We understand NPCIL is continuing with the project work engaging the people living inside the plant complex,” People’s Rights Movement coordinator S. Sivasubramanian told IANS.

He said the people inside the complex should be evacuated and the project site should be under the security of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

Sivasubramanian said: “We will chalk our next course of action like resuming the plant blockade after knowing NPCIL’s stand on the subject.”

On the defensive, Narayanasamy told reporters in New Delhi: “We respect the views of the Tamil Nadu chief minister. It is our (central government’s) duty to allay the fears in the minds of the people on the nuclear power project.”

He said as announced earlier “the prime minister is considering setting up an expert panel to talk to the protesters where the state government will also be represented”.

“The prime minister is considering scientists from various fields like environment, oceanography and nuclear science for the expert committee,” he said, adding that “the protesters can form their own panel”.

Stating no new work was being carried out at the plant, Narayanasamy said the government scientists were carrying out maintenance work there.

India’s nuclear power plant operator NPCIL is building two 1,000 MW nuclear power reactors with Russian technology and equipment in Kudankulam. The first unit is expected to go on stream in December.

Meanwhile, former Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK president M.Karunanidhi told reporters in Chennai that the centre and the state government should ensure safety of the project without affecting the people.

Karunanidhi said he is willing to share his suggestions to solve the problem if the central government seeks them.