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 (also attached as a Word file) 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 Jassuwala
  5. Aditya Nigam
  6. Admiral L. Ramdas
  7. Ajay Skaria
  8. Amarjeet S Narang
  9. Amit Sengupta
  10. Amita Baviskar
  11. Amita Baviskar
  12. Ammu Joseph
  13. Amrita Chhachhi
  14. Anand Patwardhan
  15. Anandhi S
  16. Anita Dubey
  17. Anna George
  18. Antony Arulraj
  19. Arun Patnaik
  20. Aruna Rodrigues
  21. Aruna Roy
  22. Arvid Ghosh
  23. Asad Bin Saif
  24. Ashish Kothari
  25. Ashok Dube
  26. Asit Das
  27. Bablu Ganguly
  28. Beena Sarwar
  29. C P Chandrashekhar
  30. Capt. J. Rama Rao
  31. Cheran Rudhramoorthy
  32. Chitranjan Singh
  33. D N Jha
  34. D. Balasubramanian
  35. Darryl D’Monte
  36. David Ludden
  37. Dilip D’Souza
  38. Dinesh Abrol
  39. Dolphy Dsouza
  40. Dunu Roy
  41. EAS Sarma
  42. G. Arunima
  43. Garga Chatterjee
  44. Geeta Seshu
  45. Geetanjali Shree
  46. Gopalarishnan
  47. Gulam Mohammad Sheikh
  48. Gyanendra Pandey
  49. Hanan Sabea
  50. Harsh Kapoor
  51. Jairus Banaji
  52. Jean Dreze
  53. Jitendra Chahar
  54. Jyoti Punwani
  55. K Babu Rao
  56. K. Ashok Rao
  57. Kamal Kant Jaswal
  58. Kamal Mitra Chenoy
  59. Kamayani Bali Mahabal
  60. Kamla Bhasin
  61. Kavita Krishnan
  62. Lalita Ramdas
  63. Lawrence Surendra
  64. Leela Samson
  65. M V Ramana
  66. Mahtab Alam
  67. Manasi Pingle
  68. Manoranjan Mohanty
  69. Mary E. John
  70. Mohan Rao
  71. Mookhi Amir Ali
  72. Nandan Maluste
  73. Nandini Sunder
  74. Naresh Dadhich
  75. Neeladri Bhattacharya
  76. Neeraj Jain
  77. Neeta Deshpande
  78. Nikhil Desai
  79. Nikhil Dey
  80. Nirupam Sen
  81. Nivedita Menon
  82. Noorjehan Safia Niaz
  83. P M Bhargava
  84. Prashant Bhushan
  85. Pushpa Achanta
  86. Rabin Chakraborty
  87. Rafeeq Ellias
  88. Rajeev Bhargav
  89. Rajeev Suman
  90. Rajni Bakshi
  91. Ravi Hemadri
  92. Ritu Kumar
  93. Rohini Hensman
  94. S P Shukla
  95. S. K. Biswas
  96. S.G. Vasudev
  97. Sameera Khan
  98. Sandeep Pandey
  99. Sandhya Srinivasan

100. Sannybhai

101. Santanu Chakraverti

102. Saraswati Kavula

103. Satinath Choudhary

104. Satish Deshpandey

105. Satya Sivaraman

106. Satyajit Rath

107. Shabnam Hashmi

108. Shailesh Gandhi

109. Sheeba Chhachhi

110. Shree Prakash

111. Soumya Dutta

112. Subash Mohapatra

113. Sudhir Chandra

114. Sukla Sen

115. Sumit Sarkar

116. Suresh Khairnar

117. Suvrat Raju

118. Tajeev Suman

119. Tani Bhargav

120. Tanika Sarkar

121. TSR Subramanian

122. Uma Chakravarty

123. Uzramma

124. V. Prakash

125. Vaishali Patil

126. Vandana Shiva

127. Venu Madhav Govindu

128. Viren Lobo

129. Vivek Sundara

130. Walter Fernandes

131. Wilfred D’Souza

132. Xavier Jeyaraj SJ

133. Zoya Hasan