Kudankulum: Centre pins hopes on talks today

A day after former President A P J Abdul Kalam failed to convince protesters that the Kudankulam nuclear project was perfectly safe and highly desirable for the state as well as the nation, the union government is now pinning its hopes on a meeting between an expert panel, the Tamil Nadu government, and protest leaders today to end the impasse over the completion of the plant.

Protests over safety and environmental concerns have stalled work on the Rs13,700-crore project for over a month now. The protesters want the nuclear power plant to be shut down and converted to a gas-based power plant.

This is the first face-to-face dialogue between the state government-appointed panel, which comprises of representatives of the anti-nuclear protesters, and a 15-member independent expert group appointed by the central government.

Maintaining that they had come with an open mind, representative of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, M Pushparayan, told NDTV that the "dialogue will continue" and expressed hope that the impasse could be broken. The protests would, however, continue till fears in the minds of people in the area were dispelled, Pushparayan warned.

One of the six representatives nominated by the Tamil Nadu government has decided to skip the meeting. Tuticorin Bishop Father Yvon Ambrose chose not to be a part of the meeting, saying that he was "not a nuclear expert" and that he had not been consulted earlier.

"We don't know if others have boycotted, we are there," Pushparayan said.