Kadakin accuses anti-nuke protesters of 'playing games' on Kudankulam plant
Chennai, Dec 15 (ANI)
Russia's Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin has accused anti-nuclear protesters of "playing games" as India moves to launch the country's biggest nuclear power project.
Objectors to the Russian-built Kudankulam plant have asked the Supreme Court to prevent the opening of the plant, planned for January, after safety measures are put in place.
"The unit number one is almost ready and second one will be ready within six months. But as regard pressure from protesters and from other people, these are all gimmicks and games. The games by those who don't want to see India strong, who don't want India and Tamil Nadu to have really much (needed) power," Kadakin said on Friday.
First conceived in 1988, the Kudankulam plant was supposed to gointo operation last year, but protesters surrounded the compound after Japan's nuclear plant accident.
The protesters fear a similar accident could happen in southern India, a region that was hard hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
India is struggling to meet surging demand for electricity and suffers from a peak-hour power deficit of about 12 percent, which has become a significant drag on the economy.
A grid failure on two consecutive days this summer caused one of the world's worst blackouts.