Anti-Kudankulam activists call off fast

Anti-nuclear activists protesting against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) on Tuesday called off their fast after the local district administration agreed to consider several of their demands.

The fast was called off after a delegation of the protesters and activists met with senior district administration officials who assured them that their charter of demands would be considered.

"The officials promised to look into the seven demands placed by PMANE (People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy). We hope that the officials will talk to the government and meet our demands," PMANE chief SP Udayakumar was quoted saying by the Press Trust of India.

Udayakumar broke the fast by accepting fruit juice offered to him by Madurai Bishop Peter Fernando.

Following their talks with the police and collector, the local administration also withdrew regulatory orders in areas adjoining Kudankulam.

PMANE has also demanded the government to drop cases against over 200 protesters arrested since March 19. Several of them face dozens of cases, including charges of sedition.

It further demanded training to the villagers in disaster management, a copy of the inter-governmental agreement between India and Russia, and explanation to locals on how safely nuclear waste would be disposed.

The Rs 13,000 crore nuclear plant, built with the help of the Russia, will see two reactors commissioned within a couple of months.

In a letter to Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, PMANE this week said the Kudankulam project has been imposed on an "uninformed and unwilling population throwing all democratic precepts and values of our country to the wind".

"The people of Tamil Nadu and Kerala are deeply concerned about our safety and well being as the KKNPP reactors pose grave and serious threats. The actual sitting of the reactors, the quality of construction and the pipe work and the overall integrity of the KKNPP structures have been called into question," states the March 27 letter.

More than 1.5 million people live within the 30 km radius of the KKNPP which far exceeds the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board stipulations. PMANE said it is "impossible to evacuate this many people quickly and efficiently in case of a nuclear disaster".

"There have been serious and credible international concerns about the design, structure and workings of the untested Russian-made reactors. Even a Russian government-sponsored study has found serious flaws with the reactors," PMANE said.