TAMILNADU GOVERNMENT GO AHEAD TO KUNDUKULAM NUCLEAR PLANT

                      TAMILNADU GOVERNMENT

 GO AHEAD TO KUNDUKULAM NECLEAR PLANT

Seeking to end the impasse over the Kudankulam nuclear plant issue, the Jayalalilthaa government in Tamil Nadu on Monday gave the go ahead to the controversial project and announced a Rs. 500 crore special development package for the area where it is located.“In accordance with (today’s) Cabinet decision, immediate steps will be taken (to facilitate commissioning) of the plant,” Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said in a statement, breaking her silence over the issue.She also sought the cooperation of political parties and all concerned to immediately resume work at the plant in Tirunelveli district, stalled following protests since September 2011, spearheaded by the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE).

In the meanwhile, for the first time in the past seven-and-a-half months, the police acted against the anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project protestors on Monday when the law-enforcers arrested nine anti-KKNPP protestors, including the two members of the anti-KKNPP struggle committee.

The Cabinet has decided to allocate Rs. 500 crore for locals to set up a cold storage for fish catch, construct houses, lay roads and repair mechanised fishing boats, she said

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The decision comes a day after completion of polling at Sankarankoil, which falls in the same district.

In a five-page statement, Ms. Jayalalithaa dwelt on various measures to allay the fears of the locals on the safety aspect outlined by the central and State-appointed teams of experts which had given a clean chit to the project.The Centre roped in former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and appointed a 15-member Central committee, which held four rounds of meeting with representatives of protesters. It had replied to apprehensions of locals and submitted two reports.The Central panel had vouched for the plant’s safety, saying the reactors adhered to all safety norms and that the Atomic Energy Commission had approved it after many levels of safety tests.

There would be no effect on sea-life due to the effluents as they were well under central norms, she said, quoting the report.The four-member state government appointed committee, comprising nuclear expert and former AEC chief MR Srinivasan, had also vouched for the plant’s safety, she said.

Among its observations in the report, it said there was ‘no history’ of large-scale tremors or tsunami and that the state government had taken all steps to allay fears of the locals besides detailing the safety aspects in the plant.The committee had recommended creating awareness among locals, the need to set up a cold storage facility for fishermen and boat-repair facility in the locality, she said.

Against this background, both reports were discussed in the cabinet meeting and various aspects, including safety factors and her government’s policy of implementing development projects without affecting people, were considered, and it was decided to go ahead with the power generation project, Ms. Jayalalithaa added.

Mr. Udayakumar had recently sent a legal notice to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his remarks that protests around Kudankulam were often funded by some NGOs based in the US and Scandinavian countries

                                                                   Prof. John Kurakar.