From: "S. P. Udayakumar" <drspudayakumar@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2011 22:39:55 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Open Letter to Tamil Nadu CM
November 27, 2011
People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy
Idinthakarai 627 104
Tirunelveli District
Tamil Nadu
The Honorable Chief Minister
Government of Tamil Nadu
Fort St. George
Chennai 600 009
Your Excellency Amma:
Please accept our kind greetings from this remote coastal village.
Today we have completed 103 days fighting against the Koodankulam
Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP).
Although we have been campaigning against this project from its very
inception, the recent Fukushima nuclear disaster, the announcement of
the KKNPP attaining criticality and the dreadful hot run of the KKNPP
ignited the current agitation on August 16, 2011. Your Excellency have
been kind enough to listen to the united voices of the fishing
community, the Nadar community, the Dalit community, the Muslim
community and all other communities of the southern half of Tamil Nadu
and pass a resolution in your esteemed Cabinet on September 23, 2011.
Your Excellency also took the kind initiative of taking our Struggle
Committee to meet the Honorable Prime Minister under the leadership of
the Honorable Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu. Here we must bring your
kind attention to the fact that the KKNPP work has never been halted
as demanded by your Cabinet Resolution.
The Government of India constituted an Expert Group "to allay the
fears and concerns of the people" and has conducted just two meetings
so far. Your Excellency also constituted a State Team to work with the
Expert Group. We all had an introductory first session of both the
teams on November 8, 2011. We submitted a memorandum to the Expert
Group asking for copies of the Environmental Impact Assessment, Site
Evaluation Study, Safety Analysis Report and for information on some
50 important topics such as the amount of nuclear waste and its
management, liability of Russia, fresh water needs of KKNPP and
utilization of Pechiparai dam and Tamirabharani river waters,
decommissioning issues and its impact on our sea, seafood, land and
water and so on. When we ask for a copy of the Detailed Project Report
(DPR), a basic piece of information for any development project, the
Central Government accuses us of breaching Indian sovereignty.
Instead of giving all the detailed and truthful information to our
queries, the Central Government belittles our request by saying that
some foreign forces are behind all our efforts. They use this false
pretext for not giving any of the basic information to the people of
Tamil Nadu. We are not interested in any national security
information. We only ask for the information that has a serious impact
on our right to life and livelihood.Given this background, we have
constituted an Expert Team of our own drawing important scientists,
engineers, lawyers, doctors and social activists from all over the
country to study all different aspects of the KKNPP project. It is
pertinent to note here that a recent post-Fukushima study commissioned
by the Russian President Medvedev has identified some twenty-five
serious issues with regards to Russian nuclear reactor safety and the
overall technology.
The 38-page report of the Expert Group has totally ignored our
question on liability, and has given no specific or scientific
information on nuclear waste, and vague information on the fresh water
needs of the KKNPP. The Expert Group has hardly spent a few hours
inspecting a project that has taken almost a quarter century to be
completed. Moreover, some crucial members of the group have never
visited the site. To put it tersely, the Expert Group has come up with
an ill-baked and incomplete eyewash report. The Expert Group has not
talked to any section of the Tamil public and nor has it tried to
allay the fears and concerns of the people.
Instead, the Central Government has been spreading canards about us
claiming that we are receiving foreign funds, foreign help and
guidance. We would like to assure Your Excellency that there is not
even an iota of truth in these accusations. The Central Government and
their intelligence agencies are working overtime to split the Tamil
society by propping up some splinter groups headed by local
contractors and discredited Congressmen and create the false
impression that there is indeed some support for the KKNPP project.
The Central Government and their intelligence agencies are throwing
their full weight behind the Department of Atomic Energy and the KKNPP
project by influencing the media houses and publishing concocted
stories, spreading rumors and canards about the struggle leaders, and
employing some Union ministers and Congress party men just to
misinform and mislead the Tamil civil society.
Despite all these odds, our Tamil people stand united in our singular
demand of scrapping down the KKNPP project, safeguarding our lives and
livelihood, and protecting our natural resources for our Tamil
progeny. Our struggle is also supported by people from all parts of
Tamil Nadu. We are mindful of the fact that our state and country have
growing electricity needs and we feel that it can be met by pro-people
and pro-Nature methods as Your Excellency pointed out in a statement
as soon as you had taken over the reins of power in Tamil Nadu a few
months back.
Your Excellency, the KKNPP issue and the growing electricity needs of
our state and the country need a visionary leadership such as yours.
The current national leadership is interested in creating jobs for
foreigners, strengthening foreign economies, enhancing profit for
foreign corporations, and perpetuating their own personal and their
collective gains.
We, the people of Tamil Nadu, depend on your kind and effective
intervention in this important matter. Your Excellency's leadership
qualities and visionary capabilities alone can rescue the Tamil
people's welfare and future from the clutches of the international
nuclear industry and solve the country's electricity needs through
sustainable and futuristic manner.
Looking forward to your kind cooperation in scrapping down the KKNPP
project once and for all, we send you our best personal regards and
all peaceful wishes.
Cordially,
S. P. Udayakumar M. Pushparayan S. Sivasubramanian M. P. Jesuraj
F. Jayakumar
V. Rajalingom
For Struggle Committee
People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy
--
Peace Is Doable
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