NEW DELHI: AIADMK M P V Maitreyan, who was part of an all-party delegation that met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday, said the Prime Minister gave them a “patient hearing” and said he could understand the concerns expressed by the locals.The delegation was given a presentation by Atomic Energy Commission Chairman S K Banerjee and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited CMD S K Jain on the safety measures put in place at the plant. Public representatives from Koodankulam village who were part of the delegation raised certain technical issues during presentation.“It was agreed that since the issues raised were technical in nature and required in-depth discussion, the Central Government would constitute a small group of experts to interact with the representatives of the people of the region to satisfy all their legitimate concerns,” a Prime Minister’s Office statement said. The delegation was told that the project was yet to be operationalised and no nuclear processes had begun, it said.Speaking of the meeting with the Prime Minister, Anton Gomez of Anti Nuke Confederation from Koodankulam told Express, “We have told the PM categorically that there should not be any nuclear plant in Koodankulam. There will be no compromise on that.” According to him, the PM listened to the delegation “patiently” but “did not make any promises”. The PM, however, said all works would be stopped in Koodamkulam until the expert panel has given its report, Gomas added. “But no deadline has been set for appointing the committee or submitting the report,” he said.Another voice of dissent from the meeting, S P Udayakumar, Coordinator of the People’s Movement Against N-Energy, said the team was not satisfied with explanation given by government.
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