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Journalism of Courage
If Indias nuclear politics altogether goes the land acquisition way,the UPA government will be staring at itself in the mirror when it looks for someone to blame. Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs upcoming visit to Russia this week was hoped to procure two more reactors for the Koodankulam nuclear project. However,as reported in this newspaper on Tuesday,the government is not likely to sign a new contract with the Russians for Koodankulam 3 and 4. It fears signing a new contract at this moment would add fuel to the political fire over Koodankulam 1 and 2 Indias first 1,000 MW showcase reactors the first of which sits idle on the edge of a technical crisis with its hot run long completed,looking set to miss the date for going critical by year-end. A lot of time has been wasted in the stalemate and there may not be much left to rescue Koodankulam.
Koodankulam may have fallen prey to activists-errant who exist to confound development projects who changed the discourse on a nuclear plant already welcomed by the very locals agitating for three months now. The DAE and the expert group are engaged with them,looking for ways to resolve the crisis. That Koodankulam once the DAEs model site finds itself in this predicament was not the governments doing,but the government cannot shrug off the blame for its initial (mis)management of the crisis,manifest in its unwillingness to speak out and own nuclear power,quite like the defensive mode it had slipped into over the Indo-US nuclear deal.
