Friday, June 01, 2012

Make N-plant report public, Aruna Roy writes to Sonia

Hindustan Times: New Delhi: Friday, June 01, 2012.
National Advisory Council (NAC) member Aruna Roy has written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi seeking implementation of a Central Information Commission order on making the safety report of Kudankulam nuclear power plant public. The CIC on May 1 had asked Department of Atomic Energy and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) to release safety analysis report of Kudankulam nuclear power plant minus information of strategic importance.
Despite the order, the nuclear establishment has failed to provide the details under Right To Information (RTI) act to applicant SP Udayakumar, who is also leading the agitation against the nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu.
Roy, in a letter to Gandhi, who heads NAC, said the instructions of the CIC should be implemented immediately. “We hope you will personally take up this matter and protect basic civil and democratic rights.”
The social activist had forwarded two petitions of those opposing the nuclear plant to the Congress president claiming non observation of norms in the nuclear plant at Kudankulam and the clamping down on protestors.
“Place for dissent is shrinking in India, which is a matter of great concern,” Roy said.
The protestors had raised several unanswered questions about the safety and viability, which have not been addressed, she claimed. The National Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM) and People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) are actively protesting against the nuclear plant.