[The Indian Supreme Court is trying to find out the Indian
government's and the DAE's plans to store the Koodankulam spent-fuel, transport
this dangerous cargo to reprocessing plants, and to safe-keep the radioactive
wastes. The government and the DAE clearly have no plans or preparations for
any of these important steps. They lied to the SC about Kolar Gold Fields plans
recently and swiftly retracted in the wake of stiff opposition in Karnataka.
The attitude and approach of the government and the DAE is this: "We will
cross the bridge when we come to it." This careless, callous and casual
approach is dangerous, more dangerous than deadly radiation itself. Manmohan
Singh company wants to open nuclear power plants all over the country but have
no plans to deal with the nuclear wastes. Please see below a four-year-old
report on the KKNPP fuel transportation from Thiruvananthapuram to Koodankulam.
Good luck to you all, my dear fellow countrymen and women!]
Back in August 2008, I witnessed a rather unique convoy to
fly by me when I was at Parakkai Road Junction in Nagercoil. There were a
couple of police jeeps in the front followed by a few heavy trucks with gigantic
and heavy-duty cylindrical pipes that were tied together by thin steel wires,
and a JCB at the end. The executors obviously had two clear goals: one, don’t
attract any undue attention and two, get out of the place as fast as you
possibly could. Hence the casual air and unusual haste!
The executors made sure nobody knew that the cargo was
coming, and that their convoy carried no unusual signs or symbols or warnings.
So when the developmental motorcade was marching past, nobody knew what was
really going on. Clearly, it was not a VIP escort, nor was it an emergency
response squad. What was it? People were dumbstruck, media was silent, and
civil society groups were clueless.
I knew it; a handful of others seemed to know it too. It was
the highly radioactive and extremely dangerous nuclear fuel rods for the
Koodankulam nuclear power plants. It was HAZMAT, hazardous material, that was
being transported on busy public roads through densely-populated towns and
townships with little care or caution. What disturbed me most was the lack of
transparency (viz. not letting the people know what was being carried through
their neighborhoods), the complete absence of any accountability (viz. not
preparing the people for any untoward incidents, or accidents, or potential
disasters) and most importantly, the reckless speed with which the deadly
HAZMAT cargo was driven from Thiruvanathapuram airport to Koodankulam.
I wondered if the Chief Minister of Kerala, his ministerial
colleagues and the Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram city were informed about this
patriotic parade. Was the municipal chairman of Nagercoil town alerted at all?
Then again, it did not actually matter because in this country most elected
representatives, politicians, bureaucrats and all those “leaders” identify
themselves with the views and values of the establishment and not with the
people they claim to be serving. None of the “ordinary citizens” of Kerala and
Tamil Nadu were informed, educated or alerted about the dangerous cargo that
was crisscrossing their localities.
As the dangerous cargo was flying by with such haste and
grandeur, people on the roadside were muttering: “what is it?” I loitered
around asking people what was going on just to assess the public mood and the
level of awareness that the people had about the nuclear happenings in the
neighborhood. The majority had no idea whatsoever. Some thought it was none of
their business, others felt it was a routine matter of trucks plying on the
national highway, and yet others opined that it was all a sign of India growing
(did they mean glowing?).
A few said matter-of-factly, “Oh that should be the fuel for
the Koodankulam plants.” Even those “informed” citizens did not mention the
terms “plutonium” or “fuel rods” or “criticality” or anything like that. Nobody
seemed to know anything about the radiation risks and dangers.
I stood there depressed and dejected about the future of our
land, our air, our water, our sea, our food, our people, and most importantly,
our children and grand children. . The central government, state government,
local bodies, the Department of Atomic Energy, nobody bothered to tell us
anything about the cargo that was going to go through our domiciles. The media
did not report a single line about this deadly procession. The “ordinary
citizens” had no clue.
I have seen such radioactive HAZMAT transportations in
Europe and the United States and have even blocked such trucks in France , the
nuclear wonderland, along with French anti-nuclear activists. Those trucks had
warning signs and symbols all around them and they inched forward like a
pregnant woman with utmost care and caution. The local public was always
forewarned and their right not to allow these disastrous demons through their
neighborhoods was often respected even if it was not always honored.
Here in India , the authorities’ approach and the civil
society’s attitude seem to be the same: “don’t ask, don’t tell.” When nobody
asks and nobody tells, what we have is perfect ignorance. And ignorance is
bliss! What HAZMAT, it is kismet that decides our future here in India. Isn’t
that so?
- S. P. Udayakumar
Nagercoil, January 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment