ANTI-NUCLEAR PROTESTORS IN CHENNAI WELCOME SRI LANKAN PROTESTS ON THE ISSUE
Posted on April 11th, 2012
By Walter Jayawardhana
The Kudnkulam nuclear plant diplomatic tussle between Sri Lanka and India has given a shot in the arm to many anti-nuclear agitators in Chennai who have been protesting against the upcoming plant in the ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ area reported the Hindu.
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-For the anti-nuclear protesters in Kudankulam, who remained firm that the project should be scrapped, Sri Lanka’s stand has come as a shot in the arm,said the latest issue of the Hindu.
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) convenor S P Udayakumar said there was nothing unusual in Colombo’s reaction. “They have legitimate concerns. There have been similar situations elsewhere. The Czech Republic’s neighbours had expressed concern over the nuclear power plant in Temelin. Nuclear energy issues can be international concerns.” He declined to comment further on Sri Lanka’s standƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.
However, he said, “Karunanidhi has no moral right to criticize the Sri Lankan government. He himself never talked about the Kudankulam issue for a long time”.
PMK deputy general secretary A Viyanarasu, who has been opposing the Kudankulam power project, said Sri Lanka had all rights to express their concern. “There may be a political motive behind their reaction. They may be playing pressure politics against India for voting in favour of the resolution on war crimes. But nuclear energy will be a threat to everyone. And this apprehension cuts across community, religion and territorial borders,” he said, added the Hindu
April 11th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
Karunanithi is said to have questioned why Sri Lanka kept quiet about Kundnkulam nuclear power station all this time. Well, there may be many a reason. Political arm twisting could have been the first and foremost. In any case we had to keep big brother happy didn’t we? It’s more like Indian fisherman coming nearer to our shores to scoop fish in our waters and yet our minister staying as if he is blind.
Anyway the most important question is; did not Japanese reactors which are known to have the highest standard in the world for safety melt down during a tsunami recently? If so, what is not to say similar accident may well happen at Kundnkulam. Or, are we to believe Indian standards are better than the Japanese?
Indians may talk big; remember they promised to build a coal power station in Trincomalee and 50,000 houses for Tamil IDPs a long way back. The way that those projects were progressing it would no doubt take at least another decade to finish them. In short, unlike Chinese, Indians are known to be recalcitrant when it comes to meet obligations especially if they have to payout.
So, Sri Lanka government must compel Indians to put their money where their mouth is and grantee our safety before they operate nuclear reactors nearer to our shores.
Leela