Anti-Kudankulam nuclear project team to meet PM
Chennai, Oct 5 (IANS) A 10-member anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) team is expected to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday to press its demand for scrapping the project.
“We will be meeting Tamil Nadu chief secretary (Debendranath Sarangi) Thursday. Only then we will know the time at which we will be meeting the prime minister and also about the members of the delegation from the state government,” M. Pushparayan, convenor of Coastal People's Federation, told IANS.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is building two 1,000 MW capacity nuclear power reactors with Russian technology and equipment in Kudankulam in Tirunelvelli district, about 650 km from here. The first unit is expected to go on stream this December.
Opposing the nuclear power plant, 125 people went on an indefinite fast last month and several thousands visited the protest site at Idinthakari near Kudankulam.
The anti-power plant team has prepared a memorandum to be submitted to the prime minister.
“We are told the state government has prepared a memorandum. We will compare ours with that of the government's. If both are at variance, then we will submit ours and the state government can submit its own to the prime minister,” People Rights Movement co-ordinator S. Sivasubramanian told IANS.
He said their memorandum has categorically demanded scrapping of the power project as it is unsafe and uneconomical.
On Sep 22, the Tamil Nadu government formally asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the central government to halt work at the upcoming power project till the local fears over the reactor's safety were allayed.
The state cabinet passed a resolution to the effect.