Chennai, Feb 4 (IANS) The two parties in the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) row — the central government and the anti-project activists — Saturday welcomed the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to set up an experts panel to look into the safety, people’s perceptions and fears about the mega atomic power project coming up in the state’s Tirunelveli district.
“We welcome the state government’s decision to set up an experts panel on the Kudankulam project. We request the panel to come out with its report at the earliest,” Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy told IANS over phone.
He said the safety of the KNPP reactors has been vouched for by several experts including the 15 member expert panel set up by the central government.
Coastal People’s Federation convener M. Pushparayan said: “It is a welcome decision on the part of the state government to set up an experts committee on Kudankulam power project.”
“We would request the state government to include experts from our side in its committee,” said Pushparayan, a leading member of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) spearheading the anti-KNPP struggle.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Saturday announced in the assembly that the state government would proceed further on the Kudankulam power project issue on the receipt of the report from an expert committee to be set up by it soon.
India’s nuclear power plant operator, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), is building two 1,000 MW atomic power reactors with Russian collaboration at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, around 650 km from Chennai.
Villagers of Kudankulam, Idinthakarai and others fear for their lives and safety in case of any nuclear accident. Their agitation, led by PMANE had put a stop to the project work, delaying the commissioning of the first unit slated last December.
The Tamil Nadu government passed a resolution asking the central government to halt work at the power plant and allay the fears of the local people. To resolve the issue, the central and state governments had set up two panels to allay the fears of the people.
The central and the state panels met thrice last year on Nov 8, 18 and Dec 15.
The fourth and final round of talks between the central and the state panel was slated on Jan 31, 2012, but owing to the attack on them and their supporters by Hindu Munnani activists outside the meeting venue, two members of PMANE – Pushparayan and Jesuraj – did not participate in the talks.
Pushparayan does not see any change of the attitude of the state government with regard to the KNPP.
“The chief minister had said that she is one amongst the people. She had also said that the fears of the people should be allayed,” hen said.
However, a team from the Indian nuclear establishment that met Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi and other officials recently told IANS that they felt that the state government was looking at an early resolution of the impasse.
Thanking the Tamil Nadu government for its active cooperation for the project, Narayanasamy told IANS: “We will build whatever facilities that are needed by the people of Kudankulam and surrounding areas.”
He said he is confident that the proposed state committee would also give a clean chit for KNPP.
