Suspend work at Koodankulam, talk to protesters, urge concerned citizens

The movement against the Koodankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu has entered a new phase with a Jal-satyagraha following the repressive police action of September 10.

More than 120 eminent citizens from different walks of life have signed the following statement (also attached as a Word file) expressing solidarity with the protesters, and calling for serious engagement with them on vital issues of safety.

The signatories include former Chief of Naval Staff L Ramdas, former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian and former Planning Commission member SP Shukla, former Atomic Energy Regulatory Board chairman A Gopalakrishnan, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court AP Shah, former Ambassador to the United Nations Nirupam Sen, scientists PM Bhargava, D Balasubramaniam, Satyajit Rath, MV Ramana and Suvrat Raju, social scientists Romila Thapar, Sumit and Tanika Sarkar, Rajeev Bhargav, Amit Bhaduri, Manoranjan Mohanty, Gyanendra Pandey, Achin Vanaik and Zoya Hasan, writers Adil Jussawalla, Arundhati Roy and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, dancer Leela Samson, artists Ghulam Shaikh, SG Vasudev, Vivan Sundaram and Sheba Chhachhi, and many other scholars and social activists such as Vandana Shiva, Aruna Roy and Ashish Kothari.

– Praful Bidwai

Concerned Citizens’ Statement on Koodankulam

September 15, 2012

We are appalled at the police repression unleashed against people protesting peacefully against the Koodankulam nuclear plant. The repression has forced them to take to a jal-satyagraha.

Their legitimate, and as-yet-unaddressed, concerns about the plant’s safety were heightened by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board’s recent admission that it has not implemented the recommendations of its own review committee, including revision of safety parameters, and installation of backup freshwater and power sources. No emergency-evacuation drill was conducted as mandated, in a 16-kilometre radius, prior to fuel-loading.

The government has refused to disclose pertinent information, including the Site Evaluation and Safety Analysis Reports, nuclear-waste management plans, and the agreement indemnifying the Russian supplier against accidents, which mocks the absolute liability principle. These documents need to be discussed publicly and at least with the people affected by the plant.

Instead, the government is accusing the protesters of sedition, and the protest of being “foreign”- inspired, despite an absence of evidence. This is part of a profoundly undemocratic pattern, recently increasing, of demonising dissent, dismissing people’s concerns about hazards, and brutally repressing protests.

We urge the government to suspend work at Koodankulam and engage directly and democratically with the concerns of the people who live in the vicinity, so that if the plant is to proceed it has their acceptance.

  1. A. Gopalakrishnan
  2. A.K.Ramakrishnan
  3. Abhishek Shrivastava
  4. Achin vanaik
  5. Adil Jassuwala
  6. Aditya Nigam
  7. Admiral L. Ramdas
  8. Ajay Skaria
  9. Amarjeet S Narang
  10. Amit Sengupta
  11. Amita Baviskar
  12. Amita Baviskar
  13. Ammu Joseph
  14. Amrita Chhachhi
  15. Anand Patwardhan
  16. Anandhi S
  17. Anita Dubey
  18. Anna George
  19. Antony Arulraj
  20. Arun Patnaik
  21. Aruna Rodrigues
  22. Aruna Roy
  23. Arvid Ghosh
  24. Asad Bin Saif
  25. Ashish Kothari
  26. Ashok Dube
  27. Asit Das
  28. Bablu Ganguly
  29. Beena Sarwar
  30. C P Chandrashekhar
  31. Capt. J. Rama Rao
  32. Cheran Rudhramoorthy
  33. Chitranjan Singh
  34. D N Jha
  35. D. Balasubramanian
  36. Darryl D’Monte
  37. David Ludden
  38. Dilip D’Souza
  39. Dinesh Abrol
  40. Dolphy Dsouza
  41. Dunu Roy
  42. EAS Sarma
  43. G. Arunima
  44. Garga Chatterjee
  45. Geeta Seshu
  46. Geetanjali Shree
  47. Gulam Mohammad Sheikh
  48. Gyanendra Pandey
  49. Hanan Sabea
  50. Harsh Kapoor
  51. Jairus Banaji
  52. Jean Dreze
  53. Jitendra Chahar
  54. Jyoti Punwani
  55. K Babu Rao
  56. K. Ashok Rao
  57. Kamal Kant Jaswal
  58. Kamal Mitra Chenoy
  59. Kamayani Bali Mahabal
  60. Kamla Bhasin
  61. Kavita Krishnan
  62. Lalita Ramdas
  63. Lawrence Surendra
  64. Leela Samson
  65. M V Ramana
  66. Mahtab Alam
  67. Manasi Pingle
  68. Manoranjan Mohanty
  69. Mary E. John
  70. Mohan Rao
  71. Mookhi Amir Ali
  72. Nandan Maluste
  73. Nandini Sunder
  74. Naresh Dadhich
  75. Neeladri Bhattacharya
  76. Neeraj Jain
  77. Neeta Deshpande
  78. Nikhil Desai
  79. Nikhil Dey
  80. Nirupam Sen
  81. Nivedita Menon
  82. Noorjehan Safia Niaz
  83. P M Bhargava
  84. Prashant Bhushan
  85. Pushpa Achanta
  86. Rabin Chakraborty
  87. Rafeeq Ellias
  88. Rajeev Bhargav
  89. Rajeev Suman
  90. Rajni Bakshi
  91. Ravi Hemadri
  92. Ritu Kumar
  93. Rohini Hensman
  94. Romila Thapar
  95. S P Shukla
  96. S. K. Biswas
  97. S.G. Vasudev
  98. Sameera Khan
  99. Sandeep Pandey
  100. Sandhya Srinivasan
  101. Sannybhai
  102. Santanu Chakraverti
  103. Saraswati Kavula
  104. Satinath Choudhary
  105. Satish Deshpandey
  106. Satya Sivaraman
  107. Satyajit Rath
  108. Shabnam Hashmi
  109. Shailesh Gandhi
  110. Sheeba Chhachhi
  111. Shree Prakash
  112. Soumya Dutta
  113. Subash Mohapatra
  114. Sudhir Chandra
  115. Sukla Sen
  116. Sumit Sarkar
  117. Suresh Khairnar
  118. Suvrat Raju
  119. Tajeev Suman
  120. Tani Bhargav
  121. Tanika Sarkar
  122. TSR Subramanian
  123. Uma Chakravarty
  124. Uzramma
  125. V. Prakash
  126. Vaishali Patil
  127. Vandana Shiva
  128. Venu Madhav Govindu
  129. Viren Lobo
  130. Vivek Sundara
  131. Walter Fernandes
  132. Wilfred D’Souza
  133. Xavier Jeyaraj SJ
  134. Zoya Hasan
  135. Rajshree Dasgupta
  136. Sushil Khanna

 

 

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