IANS/Chennai


Activists who resumed their protest against a proposed nuclear plant at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu yesterday got a boost from Chief Minister J Jayalalitha who reiterated that New Delhi must not proceed with the project without allaying the fears of the people.
According to her, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office V Narayanasamy had said the Tamil Nadu government 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 are demanding that the Rs130bn Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in Tirunelveli district, about 650km from here, be scrapped.
Jayalalitha said her government was firm on its stand that the people’s fears about the project should be allayed and until then project activities should be halted.
As the central government had not done that, the locals had been forced to resume their protest.
Jayalalitha urged 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 the full knowledge about the safety aspects of the project and it was the government’s responsibility to allay the people’s fears about the project, she said.
She also flayed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for releasing to the media his letters purportedly written to her but not sending them to her first.
Pointing out that she has assumed the office of chief minister for the third time, Jayalalitha said: “Till now, no prime minister had said that he had written a letter to me, releasing the same to the media first and without sending the same to me. This has happened twice during the past ten days.”
According to her, the prime minister’s letter dated October 4 was released to the media on October 7 and the state government got the letter by fax after a request on October 10.
She said there were media reports about another letter to her dated October 12 but it had not yet reached her.
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.
Activists demanding the closure of the plant welcomed Jayalalitha’s statement. At Idinthakarai village near Kudankulam, several people are sitting on a protest fast.
“...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 said.
He said the people inside the complex should be evacuated and the project site should be under the security of the 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.”
In New Delhi, minister Narayanasamy told reporters: “It is our duty to allay the fears in the minds of the people on the nuclear power project.”
He denied any differences between the central and the state government on the issue and said: “We respect the views of the Tamil Nadu chief minister.”
Narayanasamy 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,” said the junior minister adding that “the protesters can form their own panel.”