V Narayanswamy, MOS in the PMO, visits the venue of the mass agitation near Kudankulam nuclear power project site.
For the second time in a month, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has given in to populism. She assured a team of protesters against the 2,000 MW Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) that the state cabinet would resolve to halt work on the plant until concerns of the people were allayed. Twenty-seven activists from a village near the power plant called off an indefinite week-long hunger strike after the Chief Minister's assurance. Political analysts term her assurance as token at best. The Rs 13,000-crore power plant on which work began in 2002, comes under the ambit of the Centre. It may be too late in the day to rollback the heavy investments. Yet, the Chief Minister's turnaround was remarkable. Just a week earlier, she had certified the Russian-built nuclear plant as safe.
