Chennai: Medha Patkar hails Jaya nuke plant move

CHENNAI: Social activist Medha Patkar on Tuesday welcomed the initiative taken by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in writing to the Prime Minister seeking the Centre’s intervention for allyaing fears of the residents of Koodankulam about the nuclear plant coming up there.Though Patkar expressed reservations over the Chief Minister sending two emissaries to Narendra Modi on the first day of his fast but none to the place of protest  in her own state for nine full days, she told reporters on Tuesday that the CM had respected the sentiments of people and had taken up the issue with the PM.When asked whether it was a political move keeping an eye on the forthcoming local body election, Medha Patkar said that though every political party kept in mind the vote bank while making decisions, in the Koodankulam issue, the CM took the initiative after she understood the sentiments of the local people there. Jayalalithaa should follow the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banarjee and stop the project, she said.This was a movement from the grassroots with thousands of fish workers and farmers forgoing their wages and livelihood, children boycotting schools to be at the action place, women at the forefront and the physically challenged youth at the fasting venue at Koodankulam, she pointed out.Medha Patkar also urged the State and the Central Governments to take equal responsibility and express accountability by reviewing the nuclear policy with its legal, social and environmental repercussions, especially after what happened in Fukushima, Japan.As fish workers and farmers were now awakened and felt determined to question the destructive technology, which was introduced in India to help big corporates, she urged the government to introduce renewable energy bases of solar, wind, tidal along with micro-hydel and small thermal through community initiatives.B Gabriele, national convener of National Alliance of People’s Movements, said that the most dangerous and alarming was a report submitted to the Russian government recently which has for the first time admitted that the Russian technologies were extremely unsafe. The Russian government as also Norway and Finland had admitted to the danger and were willing to shut down old reactors and phase out newer ones.