Let Centre withdraw affidavit: BJP

The State BJP on Friday refused to buy a clarification from the Nuclear Power Corporation India Limited (NPCIL) that there was no proposal to dump radioactive waste from Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu, at the disused mines in Kolar Gold Fields.

The party has decided to go ahead with a series of protests in KGF along with the local residents and NGOs.

“If there is no proposal before the Centre to use KGF gold mine to dump nuclear waste, then let it withdraw the affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on the issue,” government Chief Whip in the Legislative Council A H Shivayogiswamy said on Friday.

Addressing a press conference, Shivayogiswamy said BJP State president K S Eshwarappa along with party legislators from Kolar, Chikkaballapur and Bangalore Rural, will meet Governor H R Bhardwaj at Raj Bhavan on Saturday and seek his intervention.

“We are not disputing the claim of the NPCIL spokesperson. For the sake of clarity, let the Centre also issue a statement on its plans,” he said.

He also sought to know why the State government was not taken into confidence before filing the affidavit before the Supreme Court. “This shows the step-motherly attitude of the Centre towards the State,” he said.

Y A Narayanaswamy, BJP MLC from Kolar, accused the UPA government of trying to appease the political parties of Tamil Nadu by diverting nuclear waste from that state to Karnataka.

“At all nuclear plants, the radioactive waste is dumped in the vicinity. Why this exception for Kudankulum?,” he asked.

The radioactive waste could pose serious health hazards to the people of the region and could contaminate the already depleting water table, he said.

Moreover, the waste has to be transported to KGF, 400 km from Kudankulam, and could prove hazardous en route, he said.

Already, the tailing (cyanide dumps) left behind after the extraction of gold at KGF mines has caused respiratory-related diseases and blindness among the local population, he said.