Thaindian News

Chennai, Nov 8 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa is to decide on resumption of work at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP), said an anti-KNPP activist after participating in the first meeting Tuesday of expert committees appointed by the central and Tamil Nadu governments to allay fears of locals about the power project.

Referring to the discussion on resumption of work at the first unit of KNPP, M. Pushparayan, convener of the Coastal People’s Federation and member of the state committee, told IANS: “We told them that the matter should be discussed with the chief minister who would have deliberated on this before passing a resolution to halt work at the project.”

“If she is satisfied and advises us on that point we have no problem on allowing work to restart at the first unit,” he added.

India’s nuclear power plant operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is building two 1,000 MW nuclear power reactors with Russian technology and equipment in Kudankulam, around 650 km from here.

The first unit is expected to go on stream in December. The project is estimated to cost around Rs.13,160 crore (over $2.5 billion).

Villagers fear for their lives and safety in case of any nuclear accident and the long-term impact it would have on the population.

Their agitation has put a stop to the project work, thereby delaying the commissioning of the first unit by several months.

In order to allay the fears of the public, the central and the state government have formed two separate committees.

Speaking about the deliberations at the meeting held in Tirunelveli Tuesday, he said: “We had asked the member of the central government committee to give us copies of the inter-government agreement signed between India and Russia; a white paper on the Kudankulam project; answers to fifty questions and also asked them to talk to people.”

He said the documents should be translated in Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam so that the people can understand them as the issue has become a national one.

“We asked the experts to provide the answers to our questions in simple and layman language,” Pushparayan said.

He said: “The central government committee members were hesitant to meet the people. So we said they should interact with our own expert group members who in turn would advise us.”

According to him, the central government committee members said they have to get the permission of the government before committing anything on our demands.

Meanwhile, the agitators under the banner People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) submitted a memorandum to the state government objecting to the inclusion of Thangaraj as a member in the state government committee.

“We are not against that person. We have been fighting against this project on the ground. But he did not come to the meeting called by the chief minister in Chennai or the prime minister in New Delhi. Hence we have asked the state government to drop him from the committee,” Pushparayan said.

“We have an open mind and we will look at the convenience of the people. However, the development should be a sustainable one,” he added.

According to him the first meeting ended on a satisfactory note.

“We got an opportunity to voice our views,” he said.

Meanwhile, at Idinthakarai near Kudankulam the relay fast protest entered its 22nd day Tuesday with people from Tuticorin and Kanyakumari participating in the fast.

“We are not calling off the fast. It will go on,” S. Sivasubramanian, coordinator of the People’s Rights Movement, an organisation fighting for the plant’s closure, told IANS.