Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet on Friday a delegation of protesters against the Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu.
?Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa had asked the protestors to withdraw their agitation, promising a Cabinet resolution on the matter and a meeting with the PM,? said a source in the PMO. Subsequently, Jayalalithaa spoke to the PM, who readily agreed for the meeting. The delegation would be led by state finance minister O Paneerselvan.
Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) is building two 1,000 mw nuclear power reactors with Russian technology and equipment at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu.
Protests against the project reportedly erupted after an accident at a nuclear power plant in France and the damage to the nuclear power plant at Fukushima in Japan after a tsunami. The plant has been under construction for the last decade without any resistance from the local populace before this. Local sources say that a ban on fishing within 500 metres of the coastline near the plant is also a big issue.
With Tamil Nadu going in for local body polls next month for both panchayat and municipal bodies, all political parties are loath to alienate the powerful fishing communities on the coast.