TIRUNELVELI: Even though Chief Minister MK Stalin promised to withdraw all cases against Kudankulam nuclear plant protesters during his election campaign, the government had not done so, affecting the livelihood of the coastal villagers, said SP Udayakumar, founder of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy.
"Though the Supreme Court ordered the withdrawal of the cases against us, the state government is yet to withdraw 53 cases framed by the police," he added.
Udayakumar appeared before the Radhapuram Judicial Magistrate for a hearing in one of the 53 pending cases on Wednesday. "This particular case was falsely registered against us, accusing the protesters of snatching a gun from police during the protest.
The police even added a youth, who was abroad during the protest, to the accused list. A total of 369 cases were registered against the Kudankulam protesters, and a portion of them were withdrawn. During his election campaign in Valliyoor, Stalin promised that he would withdraw all the pending cases against the protesters if voted to power.
Yet, no action was taken. Two weeks ago, Assembly Speaker M Appavu visited Idinthakarai village and promised to withdraw the pending cases. Youth from the coastal villages, including Kudankulam, Idinthakarai, Koothenkuzhi, Perumanal and Koottapuli were not able to get passports to go work abroad due to these pending cases. They also cannot obtain a no-objection certificate from the local police. Their families are left to suffer under poverty and unemployment," he added.
Concerns over the storage of spent nuclear fuel
"While Stalin assured to withdraw the pending cases during my meetings with him, it seems that the DMK has changed its stance on the Kudankulam issue," Udayakumar said.
He also raised concerns over the storage of spent nuclear fuel at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP). "The KKNPP administration recently said it had generated 100 billion units of power through Units 1 and 2. It also stated that 73 % of construction works for Units 3 and 4 and 23 % of works for Units 5 and 6 were completed.
The administration also stated that they had reduced around 85 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. However, the authorities are not talking about the thousands of crores of taxpayers' money spent to generate electricity, the health issues the villagers are facing and where to store the spent nuclear fuel of the project," he said.