August
20, 2012
The
Struggle Committee
People’s
Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)
Idinthakarai
& P. O. 627 104
Phone:
98656 83735
The
Honorable Chief Minister
Government
of Tamil Nadu
Fort
St. George
Chennai
600 009
Fax:
044-24992255, 25671441, 28133510
Honorable
Madam:
Greetings!
As we have completed a whole year struggling against the Koodankulam Nuclear
Power Project (KKNPP), we would like to initiate a fresh round of dialogue with
you.
As
you know, the Government of India and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)
have not shared any basic information with us about the KKNPP. Even after the
Central Information Commission (CIC) has instructed them, they have not shared
the Site Evaluation Report (SER) and the Safety Analysis Report (SAR) with us.
They have not heard our opinions or allayed our fears and concerns about the
lack of fresh water resources, the changes in the design of the Reactor
Pressure Vessel (RPV), the management of liquid and solid waste and so on.
Neither
have they got any liability from the Russian government and/or companies for
the KKNPP 1 and 2. The Government of India is not even willing to share the
secretive Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) that they signed with the Russian
government in 2008. Even as we are dealing with KKNPP 1 and 2, the Government
of India is announcing the agreement on KKNPP 3 and 4 with utter disregard for
the sentiments of the local people and the people of Tamil Nadu as a whole.
When
the Madras High Court is hearing a batch of petitions against the KKNPP, the
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) gave consent to load fuel rods in the
first unit of KKNPP and the Court has condemned this defiant attitude and
behavior of AERB and some Congress ministers. It is so depressing and painful
to see such contemptuous treatment of not just the people of India but also the
Judiciary.
The
Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has also given consent to discharge
enormous amounts of sewage, trade effluent, desalination plant effluent,
demineralization effluent, steam generator effluent, suspended solids,
dissolved solids, and many other waste products into the sea. The TNPCB has
fixed the temperature of the effluents at the discharge point as 45 degrees.
They have also allowed the KKNPP to release significant amounts of Sulphur
Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, particulate matters and many other harmful
radioactive pollutants into the air. Nobody seems to bother about the impact of
all these on the sea, sea food, crops, dairy, food security, nutrition, health
and wellbeing of us, our children and grandchildren.
We
have taken note of your recent letter to the Prime Minister dated August 19,
2012 demanding all the power from KKNPP to Tamil Nadu. Even though you have
written twice before on March 31 and April 25 this year, the Prime Minister or
his PMO has not even acknowledged your letters. Earlier you had demanded more
power from the Central Pool and financial help for various power generation
schemes, but the UPA government always ignored your genuine requests and
earnest efforts. In fact, most of our pre-March 2012 agitations and processions
were in support of your demands and schemes.
If
this is the way they treat the Chief Minister of an important State and popular
leader of millions of Tamil people, you can possibly imagine the feelings and
attitude they may have towards the poorest of the poor who have been struggling
on our own for more than a year now. The Delhi elites seem to have scant
regards for the Tamil fishermen, Tamil women, and the Tamil people as a whole.
It
is also strange that our neighboring states would not share the Nature-given
river waters with us but we, the Tamil people, have to suffer nuclear waste,
thermal pollution, saline refuse, and most importantly, nuclear radiation and
give them all risk-free electricity. It is quite preposterous that the Congress
government in Kerala stakes a claim for 500 MW from KKNPP; in fact, the
Congress governments in Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram can together decide to set
up KKNPP 3-6 somewhere in Kerala. The intelligent people of Kerala would never
allow that and the political parties there, whether Congress or Communists or
BJP or others, would never let that happen also.
It
is we, the Tamil people, who are left high and dry by the so-called ‘Tamizhina
Thalaivar’, his party that is part of the UPA and a few other parties in Tamil
Nadu. When you assumed power in 2011 and stood up for the popular causes of the
Tamil people, we heaved a sigh of relief that we had a leader who understood
our needs and wants after all. We were so shocked when you reversed your stand
on the KKNPP issue in March 2012.
As
we pointed out during our meeting with you in September 2011, India needs a
more creative and original energy policy and we, the Tamil people, need to
protect the Tamil land, water, air, sea, sea food, natural resources and the
future for the Tamil progeny. The UPA government in Delhi is keener and
hell-bent on pleasing the foreigners and their MNCs and taking care of their
and their friends’ self interests.
Most
of the people here in our area have been praying to Our Lady of Lourdes at
Idinthakarai and to the Sage Vishwamitra in one of his rarest temples in India
near Koodankulam with the solemn hope that these divine forces would save them
from nuclear threats to their land and the sea. They believe that from
Gorbachev and Rajiv Gandhi who initiated the KKNPP to the Russian engineers and
scientists who designed the Koodankulam reactors have met with misfortunes. It
is only natural for people to turn to supernatural forces when their political
energies are dissipated and actions discouraged by the vested interests.
We
would very much like to request you, Madam, to turn the KKNPP into a pro-people
and Nature-friendly project, bring about solar power policy and projects all
over our State, rectify the transmission and distribution issues, protect the
interests of the Tamil people, and leave a wonderful legacy of visionary
leadership and compassionate development with the people of Tamil Nadu and
India.
Looking
forward to your favorable actions, we send you our best personal regards and
all peaceful wishes,
Cordially,
S.
P. Udayakumar M.
Pushparayan Fr. F.
Jayakumar M. P.
Jesuraj V. Rajalingam
Coordinator
No comments:
Post a Comment