In recent times, if there has been a selfless and peaceful protest, it is the year-long protest against the Kudankulam nuclear power project by the people, most of them fisherfolk, in and around the Idinthakarai village. Unfortunately, the governments at the Centre and in Tamil Nadu have ignored their genuine demands and tried to suppress them. The protesters and activists have been projected as traitors. That we have already spent crores of rupees on the project cannot be reason enough to go ahead with it. Did we not stall the Sethu Canal project after sinking crores of rupees in order to give respect to the religious sentiments of people?
Tharcius S. Fernando,
Chennai
As one who served as a member in the first Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and had the privilege of establishing a nuclear medicine department in CMCH, I find opposition to the Kudankulam plant unfortunate. A comparison with Japan — Fukushima — is not appropriate. It was not the failure of a nuclear reactor that caused the Fukushima disaster; it was a tsunami triggered by an earthquake that affected the reactor.
C.A. Jayachandran,
Vellore
