Govt should allay fears on safety of Kudankulam plant: BJP

BJP Monday refused to be drawn into a debate on former President Abdul Kalam's report on Kudankulam nuclear facility and insisted that it was for the government to allay the fears of the people on the safety of the plant. 

"It is the duty of the government to allay the fears, if there is any truth or unfounded fears and assure the nation on the safety of the people..... Kalam is a respected scientist but we cannot comment as we have not seen his 32-page report on Kudankulam," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

He insisted that there appear to be some "legitimate concerns" of the people on the safety of the nuclear plant and these need to be looked into.

He claimed that some countries which were exporting technology to the Kudankulam plant have stopped doing so as they are not satisfied with some issues. They themselves are not going ahead with the projects which are in the pipeline.

"Kalam has already said he is not a mediator between the locals and the government," Javadekar said.

Kalam had visited the Kudankulam plant which is in the thick of controversy due to concerns about threat of nuclear leakage in case of a Tsunami as it is located near the sea.

He met the scientists and other staff at the plant and later said the plant was safe and if there was a leakage of radioactive material it would be confined to the plant.