Former president APJ Abdul Kalam, who visited the Kudankulam nuclear power plant (KNPP) on Sunday to study its safety preparedness, believes infrastructure development in the village and nearby areas can be a possible solution to break the current agitation by locals against the plant.
Kalam has submitted a 10-point action plan to the state and union governments on Monday.
Accordingly, he has proposed massive infrastructure development programme comprising construction of schools, colleges, hospitals and a big cold storage in Kudankulam and nearby area to break the current impasse.
Kalam has asked the Tamil Nadu Government to convert Kudankulam into Kudankulampura, which will have four-lane highways connecting it with Madurai, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari. The Rs200 crore programme should be implemented by the central government before 2015, said Kalam.
The action plan, drawn out by Kalam and his associate Ponraj, envisage 10,000 jobs for the people falling under the 30 km radius to KNPP, a major desalination plant to solve the problem of perennial drought in the area and a super specialty hospital. The former president also wants the locals to be given soft loans to start their own businesses.
If the Centre implements the proposal in toto, Kudankulam will be transformed into a hi-tech village. The action programme wants the union government to set up schools, hostels, tele-medicine facilities, green houses for the coastal communities and multi-storied residential apartments for the Koodankulam population. The former president has surprised both the state and central governments by asking them to construct stadium and play grounds in Kudankulam and the nearby areas.
