New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday hoped for a breakthrough in the 99-day anti-Kudankulam nuclear project agitation, saying the atmosphere in the coastal Tamil Nadu town was "changing slowly".
"A pro-nuclear agitation has started in Kudankulam... the atmosphere is changing slowly," Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanasamy said at the 11th Sustainable Energy Summit organised by the India Energy Forum here. He said he was in regular touch with the Tamil Nadu government, which was cooperating with the Centre on the issue.
"Both the governments (Centre and Tamil Nadu) will find a way out and within a short time we will resolve the issue... very shortly a breakthrough will be there," he told reporters. Narayanasamy briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the situation in Kudankulam last evening as well as on Wednesday.
Singh had send Narayanasamy as his emissary to the Tamil Nadu government after protests broke out in mid-August against the two 1000 MWe nuclear power plants being built by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited with Russian collaboration.
He had meetings with Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and the protesters in and around Kudankulam who had expressed concern over safety aspects of the nuclear power project, livelihood issues and environment matters.
The Centre and the state government had set up two different panels to address concerns over safety and environment impact of the Rs 13,000 crore project raised by the protesters. PTI