September 15, 2012

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.