Suspend work at Koodankulam, talk to protesters, urge concerned citizens

September 15, 2012

The movement against the Koodankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu has entered a new phase with a Jal-satyagraha following the repressive police action of September 10.

More than 120 eminent citizens from different walks of life have signed the following statement expressing solidarity with the protesters, and calling for serious engagement with them on vital issues of safety.

The signatories include former Chief of Naval Staff L Ramdas, former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian and former Planning Commission member SP Shukla, former Atomic Energy Regulatory Board chairman A Gopalakrishnan, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court AP Shah, former Ambassador to the United Nations Nirupam Sen, scientists PM Bhargava, D Balasubramaniam, Satyajit Rath, MV Ramana and Suvrat Raju, social scientists Romila Thapar, Sumit and Tanika Sarkar, Rajeev Bhargav, Amit Bhaduri, Manoranjan Mohanty, Gyanendra Pandey, Achin Vanaik and Zoya Hasan, writers Adil Jussawalla, Arundhati Roy and Arvind Krishna Mehrotraq, dancer Leela Samson, artists Ghulam Shaikh, SG Vasudev, Vivan Sundaram and Sheba Chhachhi, and many other scholars and social activists such as Vandana Shiva, Aruna Roy and Ashish Kothari.

The full list of signatories appears at the bottom.

In view of the public importance of the issue, could you please carry the statement in full in your paper, channel or wire service? Publication of the entire list of signatories on your website would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Praful Bidwai

Concerned Citizens’ Statement on Koodankulam

We are appalled at the police repression unleashed against people protesting peacefully against the Koodankulam nuclear plant. The repression has forced them to take to a jal-satyagraha.

Their legitimate, and as-yet-unaddressed, concerns about the plant’s safety were heightened by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board’s recent admission that it has not implemented the recommendations of its own review committee, including revision of safety parameters, and installation of backup freshwater and power sources. No emergency-evacuation drill was conducted as mandated, in a 16-kilometre radius, prior to fuel-loading.

The government has refused to disclose pertinent information, including the Site Evaluation and Safety Analysis Reports, nuclear-waste management plans, and the agreement indemnifying the Russian supplier against accidents, which mocks the absolute liability principle. These documents need to be discussed publicly and at least with the people affected by the plant.

Instead, the government is accusing the protesters of sedition, and the protest of being “foreign”- inspired, despite an absence of evidence. This is part of a profoundly undemocratic pattern, recently increasing, of demonising dissent, dismissing people’s concerns about hazards, and brutally repressing protests.

We urge the government to suspend work at Koodankulam and engage directly and democratically with the concerns of the people who live in the vicinity, so that if the plant is to proceed it has their acceptance.

1. A.K.Ramakrishnan

2. Abhishek Shrivastava

3. Achin Vanaik

4. Adil Jussawalla

5. Aditya Nigam

6. Ajay Skaria

7. Amarjeet S Narang

8. Amit Sengupta

9. Amita Baviskar

10. Ammu Joseph

11. Amrita Chhachhi

12. Anand Patwardhan

13. Anandhi S

14. Anita Dubey

15. Anna George

16. Antony Arulraj

17. Arun Patnaik

18. Aruna Rodrigues

19. Aruna Roy

20. Arvid Ghosh

21. Asad Bin Saif

22. Ashish Kothari

23. Ashok Dube

24. Asit Das

25. Bablu Ganguly

26. Beena Sarwar

27. C P Chandrashekhar

28. Capt. J. Rama Rao

29. Cheran Rudhramoorthy

30. Chitranjan Singh

31. D N Jha

32. D. Balasubramanian

33. Darryl D’Monte

34. David Ludden

35. Dilip D’Souza

36. Dinesh Abrol

37. Dolphy Dsouza

38. EAS Sarma

39. G. Arunima

40. Garga Chatterjee

41. Geeta Seshu

42. A Gopalakrishnan

43. Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh

44. Gyanendra Pandey

45. Hanan Sabea

46. Harsh Kapoor

47. Jairus Banaji

48. Jitendra Chahar

49. Jyoti Punwani

50. K Babu Rao

51. K. Ashok Rao

52. Kamal Kant Jaswal

53. Kamal Mitra Chenoy

54. Kamayani Bali Mahabal

55. Kamla Bhasin

56. Kavita Krishnan

57. Lawrence Surendra

58. Leela Samson

59. M V Ramana

60. Mahtab Alam

61. Manasi Pingle

62. Manoranjan Mohanty

63. Mohan Rao

64. Mookhi Amir Ali

65. Nandan Maluste

66. Nandini Sunder

67. Naresh Dadhich

68. Neeraj Jain

69. Neeta Deshpande

70. Nikhil Desai

71. Nikhil Dey

72. Nirupam Sen

73. Nivedita Menon

74. Noorjehan Safia Niaz

75. P M Bhargava

76. Prashant Bhushan

77. Pushpa Achanta

78. Rabin Chakraborty

79. Rafeeq Ellias

80. Rajeev Bhargav

81. Rajeev Suman

82. Rajni Bakshi

83. Ravi Hemadri

84. Ritu Kumar

85. Rohini Hensman

86. S P Shukla

87. S. K. Biswas

88. S.G. Vasudev

89. Sameera Khan

90. Sandeep Pandey

91. Sandhya Srinivasan

92. Sannybhai

93. Santanu Chakraverti

94. Saraswati Kavula

95. Satinath Choudhary

96. Satya Sivaraman

97. Satyajit Rath

98. Shabnam Hashmi

99. Shailesh Gandhi

100. Sheeba Chhachhi

101. Shree Prakash

102. Soumya Dutta

103. Subash Mohapatra

104. Sukla Sen

105. Sumit Sarkar

106. Suresh Khairnar

107. Suvrat Raju

108. Tajeev Suman

109. Tani Bhargav

110. Tanika Sarkar

111. TSR Subramanian

112. Uma Chakravarty

113. Uzramma

114. V. Prakash

115. Vaishali Patil

116. Vandana Shiva

117. Venu Madhav Govindu

118. Viren Lobo

119. Vivek Sundara

120. Walter Fernandes

121. Wilfred D’Souza

122. Xavier Jeyaraj SJ

123. Zoya Hasan