Kudankulam plant will start functioning in a fortnight: Narayanasamy

The first unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant will start functioning in 14 days and the Union government is taking steps to commence power production with cooperation of the Tamil Nadu government, Union Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanasamy said on Sunday.

"Several rounds of safety inspections have revealed that the Plant is very safe and people will not be affected at all. Former President Dr Abdul Kalam had also explained his views about the state-of-the-art safety aspects in the Plant. The expert committee appointed by the Tamil Nadu government had also completed its duty," he said.

The Union government was taking steps to commence power production in the Plant with the cooperation of the state government, he told reporters.

Intelligence inputs and inquiries by the Union Home Ministry had revealed that certain NGOs were diverting foreign funds for the anti-nuclear campaign in Kudankulam, he said.

The NGOs in question had received funds for social services such as helping the physically disabled and eradication of leprosy and had instead diverted them to anti-Kudankulam protests, he said. "The Government has initiated legal action against those NGOs and is also probing if more NGOs are diverting funds for the protests," he said.

Narayanasamy had said yesterday that licences of three NGOs active in the Kudankulam region have been cancelled after a Home Ministry inquiry found they were using funds meant for social causes to fuel the anti-nuclear protests.

The minister also said the Government was incurring a loss of Rs750 crore per month due to the delay in the Plant becoming functional.