PMANE flays PMs Moscow trip

CHENNAI:  The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) on Saturday condemned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s plans to visit Russia amidst ongoing stir against the nuclear power plant in Koodankulam, which is built using Russian technology. The PM will visit Russia on Dec 16 to attend the Indo-Russian summit. S P Uday Kumar, the convenor of PMANE, accused the Centre of showing a “stepmotherly” attitude towards TN.The PMANE convenor condemned the Centre’s “utter disregard” to the resolution passed by the TN Assembly last month asking to stop all work at Koodankulam until fears of locals were allayed. The remark came at a fast against the project organised in the city by various civil society groups and political outfits on Saturday. P Nedumaran of Tamil Nationalist Movement condemned the statements of Russian ambassador for having said that he had “great suspicion” about the funding of the protest. “The protest is an internal affair of India and the Russian government has no say in it,” he said.Stating that the cost of producing nuclear power was way higher than other sources of power, MDMK leader Vaiko said the Central Government was creating a propaganda that the cost of producing nuclear power is cheap. Speaking later, PMK leader Ramadoss accused the scientific community of involving in false claims and campaigns to support the Central Government’s plans.