Anti Koodankulam activists meet PM Manmohan Singh

New Delhi, Oct.7 (ANI): A group of activists, who are opposed to the Koodankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here today.

Earlier, talking to reporters, activists of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy said they expect the Prime Minister to consider their request of abandoning the project.

"Suppose, most probably we hope that we will get a favourable response from our Prime Minister. 100 percent we are expecting and our, all of our motive is to stop Koodankulam atomic power project. We need only alternative power projects," said Mathamalai Thirmeni, an activist.

The recent 11-day hunger strike against the setting up of the plant came to an end after the state government promised to pass a resolution to halt the project till people's fears are eliminated.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa met a delegation of protestors and assured that a resolution would be passed by the state Cabinet on September 22 to stop construction work if safety norms were not adhered to.

Jayalalithaa had written to the Prime Minister, urging him to order stoppage of construction work, as more than 100 people were on fast for the past 10 days at the project site in Idinthakarai village and warning that support for the movement was gaining strength day by day.

Singh had sent V Narayanasamy, a junior minister in his office, to the protestors to end the stir, but it failed.

The project, which is being set up as a joint collaboration between India and Russia, envisages to build two 1,000 MW type reactors by the end of December 2011.

However, in the wake of the Fukushima incident in Japan, several nuclear projects across India such as one at Jaitapur in Maharashtra have run into rough weather as protesting locals and activists argue that such plants could adversely affect the environment.

There are 20 nuclear reactors in operation in six power plants, generating over 4,000 megawatts of electricity while five other plants are under construction. (ANI)