Click to play videoChennai: The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's reassurance to Russia that the plant will become operational in a few weeks has sparked protests back home. Thousands of people in Tamil Nadu will take out a protest rally on Sunday from Kanyakumari to Radhapuram.
However, on his flight back from Russia on Saturday, Manmohan Singh downplayed the agitation.
Manmohan Singh on Saturday assured Tamil Nadu about the safety of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant. He also said that the protests over the nuclear plant were over done.
The Prime Minister further said that the government could not let the Kudankulam plant sit idle, pointing that the nation had sunk an amount of Rs 14,000 crore.
"We cannot simply allow the Kudankulam nuclear plant to lie idle after making an investment of Rs 14, 000 crore. There is a view that the Kudankulam agitation is overdone," Singh said.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has also hit back, shooting off a letter to the Prime Minister.
She wrote, "I was amazed to see in the media that at a joint press conference with the Russian President, you had announced that the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project will be 'operationalised in a couple of weeks'... it is imperative that necessary measures to allay the fears of the people are undertaken before any precipitate action is embarked upon."
And this is a sentiment that angry locals, who have been protesting for months, share.
"We are asking for the closure of the plant because this plant is being imposed on us. They never listened to our interests and what we need, our needs and so there has been no democratic decision making," Anti-nuke people's movement President Udayakumar S said.
The intervention of former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who said that there is no need to worry about the safety of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant as it has been constructed with the ‘most advanced technology’, failed to dispel safety concerns.
The Centre has tried to reach out to protesters by sending emissaries while its ally, the DMK, has played it safe so far.
DMK President M Karunanidhi said, "I hope the Prime Minister took everyone's opinion into consideration. If that's the case then I welcome the decision of opening the plant."
With the Prime Minister’s statement on the opening of the nuclear plant on the one hand, and the protesters threat of intensifying their agitation on the other, uncertainty continues to cloud over the future of the Kudankulam power plant.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
TOP NEWS
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
