CHENNAI: Slammed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for the stalemate over the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project issue, the Centre on Tuesday said an expert group is likely to be set up this week after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returns from his overseas trip.
Hours after Jayalalithaa accused the Centre of “inaction” and blamed it for the impasse, Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanaswamy said the Centre would also seek the “guidance” of former President A P J Abdul Kalam on ways to dispel the apprehensions of the people over the KNPP project.
“The Centre’s expert group, comprising scientists from the environment, nuclear and ocean fields, will be set up after the Prime Minister’s return from South Africa.
It will be a neutral body and there will not be any representative from the Atomic Energy Commission,” Naryanaswamy told PTI from Delhi.
Singh would return from South Africa Wednesday and the group is expected to be set up this week, he said after Jayalalithaa issued a strongly worded statement accusing the Centre of doing little to allay the fears of locals who have again launched their agitation against the project.
Jalayalithaa took exception to Narayanaswamy’s statement that the Centre was still awaiting the state government’s response on composition of the expert committee, which the Prime Minister had promised to send to allay the fears of the locals, causing delay. (PTI)