Protesters must honour apex court’s verdict
The Supreme Court's nod to the commissioning of the nuclear power plant at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu should end the motivated campaign that some non-Government organisations and individuals have been waging against the project. But, whether it will, remains to be seen, because those in the forefront of the movement to thwart India's civil nuclear capability have the resources to sustain the drive for as long as they are not effectively neutralised. Authorities, both at the Centre and in Tamil Nadu, must now move resolutely to ensure that the project is not held up any further.
This they must do by once again reaching out to the agitationists, assuring them that the strictest measures have been incorporated to ensure the safety of the plant and pointing out to them that even the country's apex court is now convinced that such measures are in place. While we do hope that the campaigners against the Kudankulam project will see reason after the country's highest court has ruled in favour of the project, there is a possibility that they still may not. In that case, the authorities should not any more allow the disruptionists to have their way.
After all, the larger good of the country is more important than the parochial self-interests which the agitating organisations and individuals are promoting. Until now, the opponents of the Kudankulam civil nuclear project have based their strategy on the premise that they are fighting for the safety and security of the very people which the Union Government claims to be providing relief through the plant. But now, with the apex court verdict, that argument does not cut ice. It would be better for the protesters, some of whom are informed members of the public and have had exposure at senior levels to the operation of civil nuclear facilities, to cooperate with the authorities in making sure that the promises that the latter have made to keep the plant safe, are kept.
The People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, which has spearheaded the campaign against the Kudankulam plant, must take heart from the fact that the Supreme Court has issued its own set of elaborate guidelines to the officials on the commissioning, security and environmental safety issues, even as it dismissed a clutch of petitions which opposed the plant on the supposed ground that many of the 17 additional safety measures which a Government task force had prescribed, hadn't been put in place.
Meanwhile, once the officials and the agitating groups are able to come together following the court's order, it would be in the fitness of things for the Government to withdraw the various charges of criminal conduct that it has slapped on protesters in the past months. This is something that the Supreme Court too has suggested. It would create an appropriate environment for a resolution of the stand-off and hopefully help in the early commissioning of the project which will to a significant extent meet the power needs of a growing population.