The Sri Lanka Government is remaining silent over the controversial nuclear plant at Kudankulam in South India — even as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in that country to denounce the atomic complex.

“We have initiated diplomatic efforts on this issue and are satisfied at the outcome and therefore there is no need to take the matter to the streets,” External Affairs Ministry (EAM) official Sarath Dissanayake said yesterday.

He said the two countries held bilateral talks in Delhi last month.“India has assured us that every possible safety precaution had been installed at the Kudankulam Plant. More talks are scheduled to be held next year in Colombo,” Mr. Dissanayake said.

The matter does not seem to have figured at all when the two foriegn ministers met in New Delhi this week.

Meanwhile, environmentalists and pro-life groups in their thousands have taken to the streets across many Indian cities including Chennai calling for the closure of the Kudankulam complex. Hundreds of activists have been arrested.

S. P. Udayakumar with the India-based People’s Movement against Nuclear Energy (PMNE) told the Sunday Times that the residents living close to the plant had been misled by the authorities with false promise of 100,000 jobs, water from a reservoir and development of the region.

“Now the people of the area have realised this is not just a fisher folk’s problem. They will be displaced and they will have to deal with radioactive poison,” he said.

By Leon Berenger
Source: Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)