WHILE WELCOMING the setting-up of the State Expert team by the Tamil Nadu government, the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) has taken a strong exception to the inclusion of Dr M R Srinivasan in the team on the grounds that he is a ‘pro-nuclear person’.

According to PMANE Struggle Committee Coordinator  Dr S. P. Udayakumar, Dr Srinivasan is the former Chairman and a current member of India’s Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). He was also a member of the site selection committee in the 1980s for the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP). He has been writing and speaking in favor of nuclear power and the Koodankulam project itself.

A press release read: “Speaking to the press on November 13, 2011 in Chennai, Dr. Srinivasan claimed that when he had visited the Koodankulam area in 1984, there were no habitations there, nobody lived in the area and the whole region was vast seashore. This is a complete falsehood as Koodankulam and Idinthakarai villages have been in existence for centuries. He also requested Tamil Nadu Government’s full cooperation to the Central Government to open the Koodankulam project.[i] On December 15, 2011 Dr. Srinivasan spoke about the Koodankulam Project at an event in Coimbatore, claimed that “the dangers perceived by the locals were ‘imaginary’” and wanted the project to be commissioned at the earliest.”

Dr Udayakumar said that the people of Tamil Nadu had expected that the State Expert Team members would be neutral and independent but Dr. Srinivasan is neither. So it is hard for the PMANE to accept Dr. Srinivasan. Given this situation, the PMANE would like to request the Chief Minister to replace Dr. Srinivasan with another expert and expand the Expert Team with experts in Geology, Oceanography and Hydrology in order to deal with a few KKNPP-specific issues.