Chennai:
M Karunanidhi has attacked Sri Lanka for suggesting that it is at risk from India's nuclear plants located in the South. Yesterday, a Sri Lankan minister said that in September, his country will raise the issue with global atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency or IAEA.
"The Kudankulam plant did not start yesterday, been there for a long time. If Lanka raises doubts now it is unacceptable," said Mr Karunanidhi, who heads the main opposition party, the DMK, in Tamil Nadu. The nuclear project at Kudankulam in coastal Tamil Nadu, will upon completion, be India's largest atomic power plant. Phase 1 will see two nuclear reactors generating electricity within the next few months. The Kudankulam nuclear plant is 250 km from Sri Lanka's northwest coastal town of Mannar.
"We respect the right of India to have nuclear power stations. But our concerns are on the possible radiation effects they could have on Sri Lanka. We have already written a letter (to IAEA) ", Sri Lanka's Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka said. The minister said the IAEA had proposed that a mutual agreement on the matter should be reached between the two countries. "We have sent a proposal to India through the External Affairs Ministry and the Indians have sent back a note on the matter," he was quoted as saying by Colombo Page. "I don't need to tell the Centre what to do, I am sure it will do the needful," said Mr Karunanidhi.
Sri Lanka has no nuclear power plants but is just 20 kilometres away from Indian main land at the closest point.
Sri Lanka's complaint to IAEA is being seen as an attempt to get back at India for its recent vote against Sri Lanka on a UN resolution that stressed the need for the island to fix accountability for human rights violations and alleged war crimes. Sri Lanka had urged India not to vote against it, but the DMK, which is a senior partner in the coalition at the Centre, had warned the Prime Minister that it would pull out of the government if India did not take a stand against Sri Lanka. The Tamils, who are in a minority in Sri Lanka, have reported through the years of persecution by the majority Sinhalese. All political parties in Tamil Nadu have for decades urged the Sri Lankan government to protect the Tamils. The UN resolution, which was sponsored by the US among others, wants the Sri Lankan government to implement the findings of an internal enquiry on the final months of the two-decade-long civil war, which saw the rebel Tamil Tigers being defeated. The resolution stressed the need for reconciliation.