In an earlier article we had described the deceitful ways of the government in hoodwinking people in Koodankulam about the proposed Nuclear plant. As more deceit unfolds, the people of the area have started a rights based people's campaign.

Alarmed by the plan of the Koodankulam authorities to take water from the Pechiparai irrigation dam in Kanyakumari district, several farmers' organizations and fisherpeople' s associations started organizing against that dangerous move. This dam water plan was recorded in the official EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) report that the Koodankulam authorities had prepared for the additional four nuclear power plants they were planning at Koodankulam.

Several meetings were organized in October 2006 to plan the centenary celebrations of the Pechiparai Dam and to think about the ways and means of preventing the Koodankulam authorities from usurping the irrigation water from us to use it in the wasteful and dangerous nuclear programs. The newly set up "Kanyakumari District Water Resources Protection Federation" organized a massive public meeting on November 4, 2006 at Thuckalay to discuss the threats to our water resources from various quarters, including the nuclear dragon. The Koodankulam authorities cunningly ducked and conveniently claimed that they were setting up desalination plants with Israeli technology and hence they were not going to take Pechiparai dam water. When we pointed out their claim in the official EIA report and in a recent journal article written by a senior nuclear official, they claimed that they were all mistakes. Typical nuclear behaviour!

The TNPCB (Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board) was going to hold the postponed public hearing for the Koodankulam nuclear power plants III, IV, V and VI on January 31, 2007 at 10:30 am at Koodankulam. The newspaper ads said that the hearing would be held at the town hall at Koodankulam but later we found out that the public hearing would be held at one of their own meeting halls in the nuclear power project township itself.

The public hearing announcement indicated that the possible issue of displacement of the local people would also be dealt with in the meeting. This last straw broke the proverbial camel's back for the Koodankulam public. They were already deeply disturbed by the facts that the promised 10,000 jobs never came and the proclaimed economic boom never happened. When they were also going to be kicked out of their village, the Koodankulam people said `enough is enough', founded the "People's Rights Movement" and organized protest marches, fasting, road blocks and so forth on three consecutive days in late January 2007.

Seeing the latest developments in Koodankulam, the neighboring fishing and farming villages also rose up with fresh energy and enthusiasm. None of them want to have four more additional nuclear power plants in their midst and they also want to stop the construction of the first two plants.

Taken aback by this popular upsurge and groundswell, the authorities quietly postponed the public hearing once again. The nuclear authorities from the topmost boss to the bottommost peon tried in vain to reassure the people that nobody would be displaced. Typical nuclear behaviour! They came up with all kinds of ridiculous ground plans to explain that they could have upto eight plants on the existing land. Our most decent, most democratic and most lameduck Prime Minister (White)Manmohan Singh signed the deal for the four additional nuclear plants at Koodankulam with the Russian President Putin on January 27, 2007 even before the public hearing was held for the same. Perhaps he knows that the whole public hearing exercise is a sham and a fraud on the people of India.

The plan for Koodankulam seems to include six Russian-made VVER nuclear power plants producing 6000 MW power, two Indian-made fast breeder plants producing 400 MW power each, a possible reprocessing plant, and also a weapons production facility. This dangerous "temple of science and technology" will be the biggest nuclear facility in the entire world.

With the public hearing postponed indefinitely, the nuclear authorities are scheming on how to trick the people of Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and Thoothukudi districts of Tamil Nadu into the deadly nuclear trap. The local press and other media who are pampered by the nuclear ads and booze (and what not) do not want to report anything that is unpleasant for the nuke bosses. The political parties that speak so much about the Tamil race and its welfare, tend to think that the people of the southern districts are Martians who deserve to be nuked. The religious elements are busy with their enlightened escapades.

So the local people are left to fend for ourselves. We are organizing slowly, steadily but surely. Wish us luck and do something in your area too for the danger of nuclearism is taking over the entire globe.

Latest Developments

I received a phone call from a senior IB officer on February 12th around 9 PM and he talked to me for almost 1.5 hours wanting to know how many people would come for the Feb 15th hunger strike, who would be the leaders, what is planned afterwards etc. etc. We had a candid conversation and I made it clear that people do have a right to express their dissent in our democratic polity. He kept repeating the fear that we may not be able to control the 'mob' or sustain the campaign and may indeed push the ordinary people into harm's way. I politely told him that we are not violent people, we do not instigate them against anybody or anything, but what we are doing is an awareness campaign. That was an "interesting" conversation, to say the least.

On 13th February around 1 PM, a "Tirunelveli Inspector" called me and 'interrogated' me over the phone. On the 14th noon, a Special Branch CID came to Dr. Lal Mohan's house where he, Mr. Y. David and I were meeting. He was very eager to know when Medha Patkar was coming and where and all that. He also talked to his boss in front of us and answered all his questions. Several other friends have been receiving phone calls from the IB, CID and other police departments.

The Indian State is taking the struggle very seriously and is a bit worried about Medha Patkar coming to Koodankulam. Obviously, the DAE/NPCIL is putting a lot of pressure on the State from behind the screen. It is so hard for them to stomach this kind of popular participation and their autocratic nature and composition cannot simply digest even a small dose of democracy. They are annoyed, agitated and even scared.

15th is the big day! Several thousand people from fishing and farming villages will be sitting on a day-long fast and organize a "public hearing" to express our total opposition to the Koodankulam nuclear power project. It will be a wonderful, nonviolent expression of our collective disapproval of the upcoming power plants (I and II) and the additional plants (III, IV, V, and VI).

One-day Hunger Strike on February 15, 2007

The one-day hunger strike has been a great success. Some 7,000 men and women and children from 175 fishing and farming villages from Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari district fasted together. This event was also treated as the "public hearing" organized by the public themselves. Scores of people –fishermen, farmers, women, social activists, doctors, teachers, lawyers, scientists, priests and youth- expressed their opposition to the Koodankulam plants. They all demanded immediate closure of the ongoing projects (I and II) and the planned projects (III, IV, V and VI). The whole day people made passionate speeches and the audience gave undivided attention to all of them.

Earlier in the day, when Medha Patkar and we arrived at the venue of the strike at around 9 am, several activists complained that many people had been prevented by the police from coming to the strike and many vehicles were diverted. When the organizers objected to this behavior of the police, one senior officer told me that they had diverted the vehicles for half an hour as they expected a huge crowd. I failed to understand how that would help in crowd management. Another officer claimed that the police searched all the vehicles as they wanted to prevent people from bringing weapons to the venue. Again I could not see who would bring weapons to a hunger strike headed by a noted nonviolent fighter such as Medhaji. The police officers wanted us to announce in public that the police hadn't done any mistake (which we chose to ignore).

But several participants told us that they had been stopped, diverted and even harassed by the police. Some also told that a rumor had been spread in some fishing villages that there could be police firing at the venue in order to prevent people from coming to the hunger
strike. Despite all this, people kept coming and by 11 am, the `pandal' was full of people.

Medhaji gave a powerful and passionate speech detailing the plight of nuclear victims in different parts of the country such as Jadugoda, Tarapur, Kalpakkam, Kakrapar, Kota etc. As in these places, the government gave no information, no knowledge and no public debate about the nuclear reactors in Koodankulam or about the India-US and India-Russia nuclear deals. She categorically asserted that the people of India did not need any foreign advice on how to take care of our fisherpeople, sea and fish, and farmers, land and crops.

Medhaji asserted that the nuclear power and bomb were two sides of the same coin and said that she would be with the people as long as they fought the nuclear menace. Referring to the Tirunelveli collector's announcement that the next public hearing would be conducted on March 31st under the chairmanship of the Tamil Nadu Electricity minister Arcot Veerasami, she said that this was unacceptable as per the environmental notification of 1994 (that was again modified in September 2006). She said we would problematize such as arrangement. She said the local communities would lead the
Koodankulam fight and the national leadership would provide every support. She also explained the Action 2007 program that is to be launched on March 19, 2007.

Concluding the hunger strike later in the day, Medhaji asked the people to shun the caste and religious divides and fight united against the atomic power and bomb projects. She suggested organizing training programs for the youth so that they can learn from each
other. She asked the local people to show films, sing songs, make speeches and slogans and to organize elocution and essay competitions among students to spread the anti-nuclear message. She suggested that the CNDP (Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace) be requested to organize its next convention in the Koodankulam area followed by a convention of various people's movements from all corners of the country.

She advised all the Gram Sabhas of all the villages in the Koodankulam area to pass a resolution against the Koodankulam nuclear power projects. She also stressed the need for involving women and youth in the struggle and suggested a small group of people traveling to all the different nuclear sites across the country and doing a detailed study of the nuclear menace.

Y. David, a leader of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, spoke about the history of the Koodankulam struggle and its future course of action. Gabrielle Dietrich, Lal Mohan, Anton Gomes, Mano Thankaraj, Balaprajapathi Adigalar, Tamil Manthan, Dhanraj, Alankaram Bharathar, Peter Dhas, Kavitha, Rosammal, Fatima Babu, Ganesan,
Dinesh, Murugesan, Frederick, Gilbert Rodreigo, Jeromios, Jayakumar and parish priests Panneerselvam, Venis Kumar, Jesuraj, Suseelan, Arul Raj, Jagdish, Clarence and many others spoke.

After concluding the hunger strike at 5:30, the struggle committee and Medhaji had a quick meeting to plan the future course of action. The committee is to meet on February 24, 2007 at Valliyoor.

- S. P. Udayakumar was the director of the Race and Poverty Institute at the University of Minnesota and now lives in Koodankulam, teaches children and works with communities affected by Nuclear Plants.