Protesters allow only two project officials to accompany the team during visit
The State Expert Team on Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) visited nuclear reactors here on Saturday evening after the protesting anti-KKNPP group allowed only two persons to be with the experts while filtering top officials of KKNPP, including Site Director, KKNPP, M. Kasinath Balaji.
After holding a preliminary discussion with Collector R. Selvaraj at Circuit House here from 12.15 p.m., the expert team members M.R. Srinivasan, former Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission; D. Arivoli, Department of Physics, Anna University, Chennai; S. Iniyan, Professor and Director, Institute for Energy Studies, Anna University, Chennai, and L.N. Vijayaraghavan, former IAS officer, left for the KKNPP site around 3.15 p.m.
Speaking to reporters before leaving for the site, Dr. Iniyan said the committee would inspect the nuclear reactors to ascertain the safety features of VVER reactors being built with Russian assistance and hold talks with the members of the protesters' panel of experts on Sunday afternoon. “We'll submit our report to the government as early as possible and hence we'll be here till we complete our work satisfactorily,” said Dr. Iniyan.
Even as the Collector was holding discussions with the team members, the protesters, who blocked the road leading to the main entrance of the KKNPP site, compelled Mr. Kasinath Balaji, Station Director R.S. Sundar and eight others, who were actually waiting at the site to receive the team members and explain to them the salient features of the reactors, to leave the project site immediately. When they were leaving the site, their identity cards were checked by the protesters before being allowed to move further.
Left with no other option, the top brass of the KKNPP returned to their residential complex, Anu Vijay Township, around 2.45 p.m. and were waiting for the State Expert Team's arrival.
On the team reaching the township, eleven KKNPP officials, including Mr. Kasinath Balaji and Mr. Sundar, proceeded to the project site in a van even as the team members were travelling in their cars.
Meanwhile, Dr. Selvaraj persuaded the protestors' representative S. Sivasubramanian to allow the team members and the KKNPP officials inside the plant, but he said they would allow only the members of State Experts panel and not the KKNPP officials into the site.
When the van carrying KKNPP officials reached the Kudankulam police station, it was intercepted by the protesters, who allowed the cars carrying experts and vehicles of the Collector and District Revenue Officer B. Uma Maheshwari inside the plant and asked the officials to return to Anu Vijay Township as police did not come to their rescue. All eleven KKNPP officials returned to their residential complex again.
Since none other than the maintenance personnel was at the site to explain the salient safety features of the reactors to the experts, Ms. Uma Maheshwari sent a vehicle to bring Mr. Sundar and Manager, Human Resources, S. Anbumani, to the site.
They reached the site around 6 p.m. Only after their arrival, were the experts taken to the dyke, turbine building, first reactor building, desalination plant, stand-by generators and also to the place where the fresh fuel assemblies are kept.
An illiterate mob try to dictate safety features to experts. It seems they allow only persons who says the plant is not safe. Did they learn nuclear reactor technology and safety from Harvard? They got jobs in powerplant and once the work is over their jobs returned as protests.
By disallowing the state experts at Kudankulam Power Plant, protesters have proven that they are anti national and colluding with counter productive tamil nadu government. Nuclear power plants around the world have excellent safety records for more than fifty years now. There have been a few failures,but the fatalities have been very less. Kudankulam Power plant has been built on highest safety design and the eminent scientists in our country vouch for it.
By allowing the anti KKNPP protesters to halt the operations of the project, tamil nadu government is making a grave mistake.
This is going a bit too far. Where is the rule of law? A handful of
agitators exploit the fears of the public to further their own agenda.
It is a pity that the government is a spectator. The agitators’ self appointed representatives are not even prepared to listen to the logic of the matter from enlightened experts and carry out their agenda stooping so low as to distort the facts and
deceive the innocent people to further their own agenda. All these
they are doing to the determent of the progress of the country and
remind of the persecution of the intelligentsia by the Church in the
middle centuries. Nobody has ever died in the recent Fukushima
accident from radiation and hundreds are dying for want of basic needs
in our country. Are these leaders concerned with the safety of the
people?I hope better sense will prevail on the government to stop
these types of un democratic and mobocratic tendencies in the interest
of the welfare, progress and democracy.
The other day, we read a news item in 'The Hindu' stating that, Collector called some representatives of Protestors to allow AERB officials to enter Kudankulam Site. Yesterday, when some senior officials of NPCIL wanted to visit site to explain the state committee, they again refused and blocked them. One wonders, in which world are we living ? Whose rule writ large in Kudankulam, Why one earth, the first person of any district (Dist. Collector) has to beg some self styled leaders to allow anyone to go inside the plant site. Are we living in a separate country? It's the ultimate insult to collector and the scientists of the land who have toiled hard to cosntruct this power plant in last 10 years. TN Govt. can ill afford to waste any more time in this regard but take stern action against these self appointed law keepters of Kudankulam & allow the plant to be commissioned soon.
Power shortage is a very big problem in Tamil Nadu now.Eight to ten
hours of daily power cuts through out TN.There should be a big relief
to TN once 1000 MW electric power comes from KUDANKULAM NUCLEAR POWER
PLANT. All the small scale industries are very much affected due to
scheduled and unscheduled power cuts through out Tamil nadu.The
livelihood of people gets affected due to frequent power cuts.Among
all the sources for generating power say
thermal,wind,solar,geothermal,nuclear,hydro etc, NUCLEAR POWER is the
best option in terms of environmental friendly,safety,cost
effective,high generation capacity from a single plant.The state
government representatives should explain to the protesters in
kudankulam and also to the entire TN about the need of NUCLEAR POWER
in our country for energy independence.Let us hope that the protesters
apprehensions about the safety features of KKNPP will be removed by
this expert team.
CM J.Jayalalithaa made a grave mistake asking for suspension of
activities at KKNPP, giving in to the protests by People’s Movement
Against Nuclear Energy. The movement is spearheaded by paid agents of
vested interests and is aimed only at harming the Indo-Russian
project.For the past more than five months,goonda raj is prevailing
around the KKNPP complex.State Govt has not crowned itself with any
glory by its seemingly indifferent attitude to break the logjam over
commissioning of the two reactors.CM must realize that by no stretch
of imagination KKNPP will be abandoned. VVER-1000 is the safest
reactor in the world today. The power plant will be commissioned and
will start generating the much needed power to alleviate the
sufferings of the people. Keeping aside personal or political ambition
,CM must see to it that law and order is restored and maintained
around the complex to enable Engineers and Technicians to perform
their duties.TN Govt committee should ensure this immediately.
The concerns of the people are justified. The people also know there
is no other option currently available to meet the power shortage.
This impasse would have already been broken had the people had any
trust in the Govt. The people are convinced that the Govt. would sell
their lives on the slightest whim, diluting the safety protocols if
its suits their pockets and foreign companies. The Union Carbide
issue, the Nuclear Liability act, stand as testimonies to such
attitude of the UPA and justifies the people's fear. The committees so
far has always given its ruling in favor of those in power, so what is
the proof that the current committees are going to act in the interest
of the people, now? If they do, they'd be harassed, demoted, and get
their entire lives screwed.If they don't, these committee members may
have a share in the loot as well as quicker movement up the ladder.
Instead of demeaning people's concerns it'd be apt to bring out
transparency to elicit their confidence
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