By IANS,
Chennai : Power equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has said that it has no plans to call back employees deployed at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) site in Tamil Nadu.
“We do not have any plans to call back our employees or downsize our workforce at Kudankulam,” P.R. Shriram, executive director at BHEL-Power Sector Southern Region (PSSR), told IANS.
However, a senior Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) official told IANS that BHEL has expressed its concern about the continued delay in the project.
It plans to reduce its contract labour size owing to stoppage of work due to people’s agitation, he said.
India’s nuclear power plant operator, NPCIL, is building two 1,000 MW nuclear power reactors with Russian technology and equipment in Kudankulam, around 650 km from here.
The first unit is expected to go on stream in December. The project cost is estimated at Rs.13,000 crore.
BHEL is executing the turbine erection and several other projects for us, said a NPCIL official.
Meanwhile, the relay fast protest against the nuclear power project entered its fourth day Friday at Idinthakarai near Kudankulam.
“Today (Friday), people from Kootapulli are on fast. Around 2,000 people are at the protest site,” People’s Rights Movement coordinator S. Sivasubramanian told IANS.