Jayalalithaa flays centre over Kudankulam, backs activists

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As anti-nuclear activists on Tuesday resumed their protest at Kudankulam, they got a boost from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa who reiterated that New Delhi must not proceed with the nuclear power 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 Rs.13,000 crore Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in Tirunelveli district, about 650 km from here, be scrapped.

Jayalalithaa said her government was firm on its stand that the people's fears about the project should be allayed and till then project activities should be halted.

As the central government had not done that, the locals had been forced to resume their agitation.

Jayalalithaa 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 full knowledge about the safety aspects of the project and it was the former'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, Jayalalithaa 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 Oct 4, 2011 to her was released to the media on Oct 7, 2011 and the state government got the letter by fax after a request Oct 10.

She said there were media reports about the latter to her dated Oct 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 Jayalalithaa'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 told IANS.

He said the people inside the complex should be evacuated and the project site should be under the security of 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."