2 members named to KKNPP panel

TIRUNELVELI: The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy , which is spearheading the protest against the Koodankulam Nuclear Nower Project (KKNPP) in Idinthakarai, on Tuesday decided to nominate two of their members in the expert committee to be set up by the Tamil Nadu government.S P Udhayakumar, the movement’s leader, told reporters after meeting collector R Selvaraj that the protesters had named M Pushparayan and M P Jesuraj to be appointed to the committee. “The collector invited us, we went to meet him. He asked two names from the protesters’ side for state government committee on the issue. We suggested the names of Pushparayan and Jesuraj.” “We demanded the collector to accept the names given by us on behalf of protest committee,” he said.The protesters, however, made it clear that they would not hold talks with the 15-member committee set up by the Centre till the work at the plant was stopped.Udayakumar said that the collector assured them that there was no work going on inside the KKNPP. The protestors wanted the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd to formally announce that work at Koodankulam plant has been halted completely. They also demanded  a white paper on the present status of the plant and all cases filed against protesters revoked. “NPCIL and Department of Atomic Energy should stop levelling false charges against protest leaders,” he said.