Kudankulam row: Funds to NGOs being probed, says Chidambaram

Tirunelveli: Strongly batting for early commissioning of the Kudankulam nuclear power project, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said the Centre was probing the flow of funds allegedly received by the anti-project activists and would take strong action if the money came in a "wrong way".

"Investigation is going on to know how the protestors are getting funds. If there is anything wrong, if the money came in a wrong way, if it was used for wrong purpose and if the accounts were not properly maintained, certainly action will be taken," he told a well-attended public meeting to drum up support for the project.

Mr Chidambaram, however, made no reference to the Delhi court verdict giving a clean chit to him on the 2G spectrum issue.

Pointing out that the Indo-Russian atomic power project was started in 1988 and suddenly some people protested against the project, Mr Chidambaram said "who is this S P Udhayakumar? (convener of the People's Movement against Nuclear Energy spearheading the stir against the project)"?

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He said Rs 13,000 crore has been invested in the project and it was people's money. After completion of more than 95 per cent of the project work, some people are protesting against the project after 22 years, he said.

Referring to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's announcement about constituting an expert panel to look into "fears and concerns" of the locals, Mr Chidambaram "welcomed" it and hoped the panel would submit its report fast to enable speedy commissioning of the project.

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