US NGO-triggered protests holding-up India’s energy plans -
Indian PM
|
Prime
Minister Singh |
American NGOs fund the protests that hold India back from building
the nuclear reactors it needs to meet fast-growing energy needs, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh said in an interview published in Science
magazine on Friday.
Among the plants suffering delays is the Kudankulam power station in
Tamil Nadu, which was due to open last year. Progress on the
Russian-built reactor has been halted by protesters over safety fears.
‘The atomic energy programme has got into problems because these
NGOs, mostly I think based in the United States, don’t appreciate the
need for our country to increase the energy supply,” Singh said in the
interview. The PM also blamed protests against genetically modified
crops on groups he said were funded from the United States and
Scandinavian countries. (They are) not fully appreciative of the
development challenges that our country faces,” he said. Media
commentaries said his remarks were reminiscent of an era when India was
more inward looking and saw foreign influence behind many of the
country’s problems.
Protesters at Kudankulam have denied that they get overseas
financing, and say an interior ministry investigation into the accounts
of dozens of protest groups in the area turned up no evidence of
wrongdoing. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in India are allowed
to receive foreign financing, with certain restrictions.
A member of Singh’s cabinet on Friday said three NGOs had lost their
license to operate for inappropriately using funds. The Kudankulam power
station is one of several planned power projects that are seen as vital
to plugging huge electricity shortages that have damaged economic
growth.Protests by local people against the power station gathered pace
after the Fukushima accident in Japan in March last year. Times of India
|