December 18, 2011

People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)
Idinthakarai & P. O. 627 104
Tirunelveli District
Tamil Nadu
Phone: 98656 83735
Email: koodankulam@yahoo.com

The Honorable Chief Minister
Government of Tamil Nadu
Fort St. George
Chennai 600 009
Fax: 044-

Your Excellency Amma:

Greetings! The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) and hundreds of thousands of Tamil people from the coastal and farming villages in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu and the concerned Tamil people from all over our state would like to thank you wholeheartedly for your very thoughtful statement of December 17, 2011. We thank you, Your Excellency, for standing up to defend the rights and interests of our Tamil people and our progeny. You have proved once again, Your Excellency, that you are truly a people’s leader and not an externally imposed CEO.

The Prime Minister’s assertion that the first Koodankulam reactor will be operational “in a couple of weeks” simply betrays the fact the Tamil Nadu State Cabinet’s resolution to halt the work at the Koodankulam plants was never honored earnestly or implemented effectively. It is also very clear that the Central Government, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), and the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) authorities have all been working on the Koodankulam reactors secretly against the letter and spirit of the State Cabinet Resolution.

If the first Koodankulam reactor has to go operational “in a couple of weeks,” the nuclear authorities must have loaded the fuel rods into the reactor. In that case, the nuclear authorities have breached all the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) rules and the various international regulations that mandate compulsory mock drills and evacuation exercises among the local people before loading the fuel rods. Throwing all these Indian and international rules and norms to the air and compromising the safety and security of the Tamil people, the Central Government as well as its nuclear departments has indeed perpetrated a crime against its own people.

Hundreds of thousands of Tamil people have been protesting against the KKNPP project for the past four months and the Prime Minister has shown his utter disregard for the protesting people and our democratic struggle. The way the Central Government has responded to the gruesome Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan Navy’s killing of some 570 Tamil fishermen, Colombo’s illegal detention and torture of others, the 3-Tamils capital punishment issue, the Katcha Theevu issue, and the more recent requests of Your Excellency for financial and material help and for CISF security for the Mullaperiyar dam causes concern and worry in our minds that the Tamil people are being systematically discriminated against in India.

The Prime Minister, who hardly said anything meaningful to the people of Tamil Nadu or India about the Koodankulam issue, has chosen to speak about it in Russia, one of his major business partners. Obviously, this attitude and approach to the issue gives rise to a suspicion if the Prime Minister is more interested in pleasing the rulers of Russia than the people of India, and in working for the welfare of multinational corporations and foreign countries rather than the wellbeing of Indian people.

In this time of national leadership crisis, Your Excellency, you stand out as the most caring and creative leader of the land. Just as you implemented many wonderful plans and projects such as the “rain harvesting scheme” during your earlier tenure, you may please carry out all the innovative alternative energy plans that you had outlined as soon as you took over the mantle of power a few months back. Your visionary leadership along with your original and resourceful plans will be a path breaker not just for our State but for the whole country. If you give a call, we, all the Tamil people, are ready and willing to replace the ordinary round bulbs with CFL bulbs in all our homes and offices. Whatever steps you take to rectify the energy deficiency of our State, we are all ready to help you and your people-oriented government in every possible way we can. As you stand for us, we will stand for you and your government.

May we request an opportunity to meet with you in the next couple of weeks in order to submit a copy of the report prepared by the PMANE’s expert team and to apprise you of the ground situation here in Koodankulam please.

Thanking you once again, Your Excellency, for your caring and visionary leadership, we send you our best personal regards and all peaceful wishes.

Cordially,

S. P. Udayakumar, Ph.D.
Coordinator
People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy

Copies to:

The District Collector
Tirunelveli District
Tirunelveli

The Superintendent of Police
Tirunelveli District
Tirunelveli