Suspend work at Koodankulam, talk to protesters, urge concerned citizens

September 15, 2012

The movement against the Koodankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu has entered a new phase with a Jal-satyagraha following the repressive police action of September 10.

More than 120 eminent citizens from different walks of life have signed the following statement (also attached as a Word file) expressing solidarity with the protesters, and calling for serious engagement with them on vital issues of safety.

The signatories include former Chief of Naval Staff L Ramdas, former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian and former Planning Commission member SP Shukla, former Atomic Energy Regulatory Board chairman A Gopalakrishnan, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court AP Shah, former Ambassador to the United Nations Nirupam Sen, scientists PM Bhargava, D Balasubramaniam, Satyajit Rath, MV Ramana and Suvrat Raju, social scientists Romila Thapar, Sumit and Tanika Sarkar, Rajeev Bhargav, Amit Bhaduri, Manoranjan Mohanty, Gyanendra Pandey, Achin Vanaik and Zoya Hasan, writers Adil Jussawalla, Arundhati Roy and Arvind Krishna Mehrotraq, dancer Leela Samson, artists Ghulam Shaikh, SG Vasudev, Vivan Sundaram and Sheba Chhachhi, and many other scholars and social activists such as Vandana Shiva, Aruna Roy and Ashish Kothari.

The full list of signatories appears at the bottom.

In view of the public importance of the issue, could you please carry the statement in full in your paper, channel or wire service? Publication of the entire list of signatories on your website would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Praful Bidwai
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Concerned Citizens’ Statement on Koodankulam

We are appalled at the police repression unleashed against people protesting peacefully against the Koodankulam nuclear plant. The repression has forced them to take to a jal-satyagraha.

Their legitimate, and as-yet-unaddressed, concerns about the plant’s safety were heightened by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board’s recent admission that it has not implemented the recommendations of its own review committee, including revision of safety parameters, and installation of backup freshwater and power sources. No emergency-evacuation drill was conducted as mandated, in a 16-kilometre radius, prior to fuel-loading.

The government has refused to disclose pertinent information, including the Site Evaluation and Safety Analysis Reports, nuclear-waste management plans, and the agreement indemnifying the Russian supplier against accidents, which mocks the absolute liability principle. These documents need to be discussed publicly and at least with the people affected by the plant.

Instead, the government is accusing the protesters of sedition, and the protest of being “foreign”- inspired, despite an absence of evidence. This is part of a profoundly undemocratic pattern, recently increasing, of demonising dissent, dismissing people’s concerns about hazards, and brutally repressing protests.

We urge the government to suspend work at Koodankulam and engage directly and democratically with the concerns of the people who live in the vicinity, so that if the plant is to proceed it has their acceptance.



1. A.K.Ramakrishnan
2. Abhishek Shrivastava
3. Achin vanaik
4. Adil Jassuwala
5. Aditya Nigam
6. Admiral L. Ramdas
7. Ajay Skaria
8. Amarjeet S Narang
9. Amit Sengupta
10. Amita Baviskar
11. Amita Baviskar
12. Ammu Joseph
13. Amrita Chhachhi
14. Anand Patwardhan
15. Anandhi S
16. Anita Dubey
17. Anna George
18. Antony Arulraj
19. Arun Patnaik
20. Aruna Rodrigues
21. Aruna Roy
22. Arvid Ghosh
23. Asad Bin Saif
24. Ashish Kothari
25. Ashok Dube
26. Asit Das
27. Bablu Ganguly
28. Beena Sarwar
29. C P Chandrashekhar
30. Capt. J. Rama Rao
31. Cheran Rudhramoorthy
32. Chitranjan Singh
33. D N Jha
34. D. Balasubramanian
35. Darryl D’Monte
36. David Ludden
37. Dilip D’Souza
38. Dinesh Abrol
39. Dolphy Dsouza
40. Dunu Roy
41. EAS Sarma
42. G. Arunima
43. Garga Chatterjee
44. Geeta Seshu
45. Geetanjali Shree
46. Gopalarishnan
47. Gulam Mohammad Sheikh
48. Gyanendra Pandey
49. Hanan Sabea
50. Harsh Kapoor
51. Jairus Banaji
52. Jean Dreze
53. Jitendra Chahar
54. Jyoti Punwani
55. K Babu Rao
56. K. Ashok Rao
57. Kamal Kant Jaswal
58. Kamal Mitra Chenoy
59. Kamayani Bali Mahabal
60. Kamla Bhasin
61. Kavita Krishnan
62. Lalita Ramdas
63. Lawrence Surendra
64. Leela Samson
65. M V Ramana
66. Mahtab Alam
67. Manasi Pingle
68. Manoranjan Mohanty
69. Mary E. John
70. Mohan Rao
71. Mookhi Amir Ali
72. Nandan Maluste
73. Nandini Sunder
74. Naresh Dadhich
75. Neeladri Bhattacharya
76. Neeraj Jain
77. Neeta Deshpande
78. Nikhil Desai
79. Nikhil Dey
80. Nirupam Sen
81. Nivedita Menon
82. Noorjehan Safia Niaz
83. P M Bhargava
84. Prashant Bhushan
85. Pushpa Achanta
86. Rabin Chakraborty
87. Rafeeq Ellias
88. Rajeev Bhargav
89. Rajeev Suman
90. Rajni Bakshi
91. Ravi Hemadri
92. Ritu Kumar
93. Rohini Hensman
94. S P Shukla
95. S. K. Biswas
96. S.G. Vasudev
97. Sameera Khan
98. Sandeep Pandey
99. Sandhya Srinivasan
100. Sannybhai
101. Santanu Chakraverti
102. Saraswati Kavula
103. Satinath Choudhary
104. Satish Deshpandey
105. Satya Sivaraman
106. Satyajit Rath
107. Shabnam Hashmi
108. Shailesh Gandhi
109. Sheeba Chhachhi
110. Shree Prakash
111. Soumya Dutta
112. Subash Mohapatra
113. Sudhir Chandra
114. Sukla Sen
115. Sumit Sarkar
116. Suresh Khairnar
117. Suvrat Raju
118. Tajeev Suman
119. Tani Bhargav
120. Tanika Sarkar
121. TSR Subramanian
122. Uma Chakravarty
123. Uzramma
124. V. Prakash
125. Vaishali Patil
126. Vandana Shiva
127. Venu Madhav Govindu
128. Viren Lobo
129. Vivek Sundara
130. Walter Fernandes
131. Wilfred D’Souza
132. Xavier Jeyaraj SJ
133. Zoya Hasan