‘Jaya making contradictory statements over KNPP’

KUMBAKONAM: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has been making “contradictory statements” on the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) issue after initially supporting it, former Union minister and Congress leader EVKS Elangovan alleged here on Sunday. “The Chief Minister has been making contradictory statements on the issue after assuming power. When she met the Prime Minister in Delhi, she had appealed to him to sanction funds for development projects of Tamil Nadu and to immediately commission the Koodankulam Plant,” Elangovan said. But she had later passed a resolution in the Tamil Nadu assembly demanding suspension of work at the Plant, he told reporters here. Elangovan also hit out at the state of power supply in the state, saying people expected uninterrupted power supply and were “not interested in freebies”. “Normal life is affected by heavy power cut,” Elangovan said. “Industries, agriculture, day-to-day affairs are all affected by it”. Unannounced power cut of 8 to 9 hours are being implemented in many places while in some villages power is absent for as many as 16 hours on a regular basis, Elangovan alleged. He demanded that the CM take immediate action to commission the KNPP in order to resolve the power crisis in the state “on a war footing”. On the Tamil Nadu government’s claim that the Centre had not sanctioned enough relief funds in the aftermath of the ‘Thane’ cyclone that ravaged parts of the state, Elangovan said the Centre had sanctioned Rs 500 crore even before the state had submitted its estimate claim. He said the funds allocated for relief measures should be properly spent, and not be “misused” like the funds distributed for the 2004 tsunami that hit the state.