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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

N-plant battle lines deepen

-The Telegraph


A Centre-appointed committee of experts has declared the Kudankulam nuclear plant safe, prompting the group opposing the facility to say it is unlikely to participate in further talks to resolve the standoff.

“We have found the plant to be safe and any fear about the after-effects of its commissioning is not based on scientific facts,” A.E. Muthunaygam, convener of the expert committee, told reporters at nearby Tirunelveli today.

The comments followed a three-day inspection in which the experts sought inputs from the plant managers on safety issues and on queries raised by those resisting the plant’s commissioning.

The protesters didn’t seem convinced. “Our agitation will continue as the expert committee was insensitive (to our concerns). They failed to convincingly reply to the questions we had raised in our memorandum. We are against taking part in any future rounds of talks, though we would leave the decision to the state,” said M. Pushparayan, a representative of the villagers.

Muthunayagam sent the protestors a dossier containing replies to fifty questions raised by them. "Some of the details they sought were already on the websites of the NPC (Nuclear Power Corporation) and KKNP (the Kudankulam plant). We have mentioned that in our reply," he said.

Pushparayan, however, clarified that they would not get in touch with the villagers directly.

"We hope we will be able to explain that the plant will not be unsafe for them and it will not threaten their livelihood. (But) we will not go to the communities to explain. The state government has given us a forum and we will present our version only to it," he added.

Talks to break the logjam so far haven't yielded a breakthrough. The protestors have stuck to the line that the plant should not operate at any cost, sparking fears that the commissioning of the Rs 13,000-crore unit would be delayed further.

Even the mandatory maintenance has become difficult, with only a skeletal staff now present in the plant after the protestors recently blocked the entrance. "We need at least 600 people to even maintain all the systems," site manager Kasinath Balaji said.

Some signs have emerged, though, that the state administration, which had not initially responded to pleas from plant officials for police intervention, has decided to wield the stick.

Cases have been lodged against some Church leaders backing the agitation on Wednesday.

Bishop Yvon Ambrose of Tuticorin and Father Jayakumar, priest of St Lourdes Church at nearby Idinthakarai, were among the nine booked. They have been accused of unlawful Assembly, use of a place of worship for campaigning against the government and preventing public servants from carrying out their duties.

"In all 78 FIRs have been registered as the protestors had not taken police permission for any of their meetings," district police chief Vijayendra Bidari said.