nuclear-news

Release peaceful protestors of Koodankulam nuclear plant – Sandeep Pandey

Mr. Pandey said, “That there has been no violence so far is a unique feature of this movement and the credit goes to the fisherfolk of Tirunelveli. The government must withdraw all false cases and release two of the activists still in jail, Satish Kumar and Muhilan.”

Magsaysay awardee opposes KKNPP http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article3433480.ece 19 May 12   Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay award winner and a convener of the National Alliance of People’s Movements, said on Friday that Indian nuclear scientists were dealing with an unknown technology in the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) and that it should not be commissioned hastily as it was against the people’s interest.

Talking to presspersons here, Mr Pandey said the agreement signed with
Russia to set the KKNPP predated the Indo-US nuclear deal and hence
was done outside the internationally accepted non-proliferation
regime. At the plant, scientists of Department of Atomic Energy were
dealing with an unknown technology and had to rely on Croatian
scientists to carry out inspections.

Even in the case of an accident, the Indian scientists would have to
wait for Russians or Croatians to come and tell them how to handle the
situation.

Keeping agitating villagers in the dark about the implications of
setting up a nuclear power plant in their neighbourhood was a human
rights violation, he argued. Instead of treating people with the
respect they deserved in a democracy, they had been charged with
sedition and waging war against the State.

Urging the State government to withdraw the cases slapped on the
people agitating against the commissioning of the plant at Kudankulam,

Mr. Pandey said, “That there has been no violence so far is a unique feature of this movement and the credit goes to the fisherfolk of Tirunelveli. The government must withdraw all false cases and release two of the activists still in jail, Satish Kumar and Muhilan.”

May 21, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, India