PM blames NGOs based in US for Kudankulam nuclear plant protests

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for the first time ever, hit out at anti-nuclear activists and questioned the source of their funding.

"The atomic energy program has got into difficulties because these NGOS, mostly, I think, based in the US, don't appreciate the need for our country to increase energy. The local NGO-led protests have stalled the commissioning of two 1000 MW nuclear reactors" he said in an interview in the journal 'Science'.

The Prime Minister also spoke of the benefit of biotechnology and genetically modified food, also referred to NGOS from Scandinavian countries saying, "We must make use of genetic engineering to increase the productivity of our agriculture. There are NGOs funded from the US and Scandinavian countries which are not fully appreciative of the developmental challenges that our country faces."

Sources say the government is already probing the source and destination of the funding.

Reacting to the Prime Minister's statement, anti-nuclear activist Uday Kumar said, "It is nonsense to say that NGO's from US and Scandinavian countries are funding the Kudankulam protest."

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