After Jaitapur, Idinthakari village in coastal Tamil Nadu is becoming an epicentre of huge protests against nuclear power plants. Here, 127 people from villages in Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts began an indefinite hunger strike on September 11 demanding closure of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) proposed here. It ended on the 11th day, after the agitation forced the TN Government to change its posture, and promised to get the project halted.
Between 15000- 25000 people from nearly villages participated in the protest every day since September 11. More than 1 lakh people are estimated to have participated in the protest within 11 days. These included fisher-folk, farmers, manual labourers, thousands of women. Students boycotted schools and colleges, and shops have remained closed.
Coastal Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari were among the worst hit by the 2004 tsunami. The local people have keenly followed the tragic tsunami in Fukushima this year, which resulted in a nuclear disaster. They are resolutely unconvinced by the promises of the Government and ‘experts’ who assure them that the Indo-Russian Nuclear Plant project will be ‘safe’ from natural disasters such as quakes and tsunamis. “We don’t want to risk any Chernobyls on our soil” is the refrain here.
The Koodankulam project would have the untested VVER (Vodo-Vodyanoi Energetichesky Reactor; Water-Water Energetic Reactor) 1000 technology imported from Russia. People in the area are well aware that after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, Russia has no built a new nuclear plant. India, by buying Russian reactors, would be bailing out the Russian nuclear industry – risking the lives of Indian citizens in the process!
Initially the TN Government and CM too were defending the nuclear project. In fact, the State Government and its police displayed the utmost callousness by arresting protestors. But after 10 days of fasting, as the momentum of protest grew and spread across Tamil Nadu, CM Jayalalitha sought to distance herself from the project and leave the Centre to take the heat of public protest. She wrote a letter to the PM, saying that the Centre should halt the project till fears of the local people are allayed.
Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Narayanasamy then visited the agitation site, and was greeted with vociferous protests. He continued to maintain that there was ‘needless panic’ and that the Plant would have ‘robust safety measures’ in place. Nut even former AERB Chairperson Gopalakrishnan has said that there is indeed genuine cause for concern and caution in setting up nuclear power plants, especially after Fukushima. As protests escalated, Narayanasamy has said that the PM would take the final call on the fate of the project.
Eventually the hunger strike was called off on the 11th day, after the TN government promised to pass a resolution at the Cabinet for halting of the project. The movement, however, will continue till the project is scrapped.
CPI(ML) extends full support to the agitation against the Koodankulam Nuclear Plant, and demands that the project be scrapped. The party also supports the struggles ongoing at Mithi Virdi in Gujarat; Jaitapur in Maharashtra; Fatehabad in Haryana and other people’s movements which are determined to resist nuclear experiments with people’s lives.
