Centre Urged to Give Up Koodamkulam Project

PATHANAMTHITTA: The National Wider Ecumenical Alliance has urged the Central Government to give up the Koodamkulam atomic power plant project considering the safety of the people. In the last 30 years, no new atomic power plants had been built in countries such as the US, Germany and France, Alliance general secretary Issac Ninan said here on Thursday.  It is an irony that the country has taken an adamant stand on the issue by going ahead with the project while countries such as Germany is closing down their atomic power plants in phases, Issac Ninan said. The Ecumenical Alliance expressed its deep concern over the safety of the people of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Idukki districts, which would come under 200-km limit of the Koodamkulam plant. The Alliance urged the State Government to drop the move to distribute government land to religious organisations.  The central zone committee meeting of the Alliance was inaugurated by president Kuruvilla Mathews.  Pathanamthitta district secretary Jose Panachakal presided over the meeting