Urging the Union government to stop the “ongoing loading of enriched uranium fuel” in the first reactor of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) has appealed to the Centre to convert the KKNPP into a “pro-people and pro-nature power programme”.
A statement from the PMANE said even as hundreds of thousands of Indian citizens from various parts of the country were protesting against the KKNPP for more than a year now and a batch of appeal petitions were being heard by the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court, the “discredited and the CAG-disparaged” Atomic Energy Regulatory Commission (AERB) had given clearance for fuel loading and it was reliably learnt that the Nuclear Power Corporation India Limited (NPCIL) had started the fuel loading process.
With this decision, the “ruling establishment” had sent out a clear and loud message that it would not care about the Indian citizens and their democratic and non-violent opposition to harmful policies and projects. Instead, it would put the interests of foreign countries and their multinational companies ahead of the wishes and well-being of the Indian citizens.
The PMANE Struggle Committee and the people from all over the country agitating against nuclear power programme demand immediate cessation of the fuelling of the KKNPP and convert it into a pro-people and pro-nature energy project, the statement said.
“The Indian citizens and their families that depend on the retail trade for their livelihood and sustenance do not matter in their pro-American and pro-corporate political stance. Even as eight crore Tamils in Tamil Nadu oppose the visit of the Sri Lankan President to India, the Delhi elites are entertaining him with feast and festivities,” the statement charged.
“The leader of the DMK is, as usual, blaming the AIADMK for not initiating a dialogue with the PMANE and the people agitating against the nuclear power project. Although his party is part of the Central government, the DMK chief has not asked the Prime Minister to do anything on this issue. The Chief Minister is keeping a deafening silence on the issue. The Tamils are left high and dry.”
