CHENNAI: All through the eight-month-long agitation against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP), Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa consciously took the locals into confidence since allaying their fears about its safety was paramount for her government. When a group of protestors launched a fast in September last raising doubts about the safety aspects of the KKNPP, the CM requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to suspend work relating to the plant until the fears were dispelled.Following this, the PM deputed Union Minister for State in the PMO, V Narayanasamy, to visit the protestors at Idinthakarai. He met them on September 20 last and called on Jayalalithaa at the Secretariat the next day. On the same day, representatives of the protestors met her and suggested that the State Cabinet adopt a resolution urging the Centre to suspend work at the plant. Jayalalithaa agreed and urged them to call off their fast, which they did the very next day. On September 22, the State cabinet adopted the resolution. Later, the CM sent a delegation from Tamil Nadu led by Finance Minister O Panneerselvam, to Delhi meet the PM and hand over a memorandum giving details about the resolution adopted by the TN Cabinet, which they did on October 7. In response, the Centre formed a 15-member committee of experts to study the entire issue.The experts committee held three rounds of talks with three representatives of the protestors in Tirunelveli in the presence of the District Collector and the deputy superintendent of police on November 8 and 18 and December 15. They answered all queries, offered the protestors a report and assured that the plant was safe. The committee held its final meeting with the other side on January 31 and gave them one more report. This time around, only one representative of the protestors took part in the meeting.The committee assured that the plant had state-of-the-art safety features that were on par with the best in the world and that the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board had given its approval for the plant only after undertaking safety tests. On February 4 this year, Jayalalithaa announced that the State government would form its own committee of experts to go into the safety aspects of the plant. The committee comprising atomic scientist M R Srinivasan and three others visited the plant on February 9 and met the representatives of the protestors.During their talks with the representatives, the experts’ committee made it clear that the Tamil Nadu government held the views of the locals in high esteem. Later, the committee submitted its report on February 28.
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