Tamil Nadu Speaker seeks priority for local youths in ‘C’ category jobs in KKNPP

Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu, who represents Radhapuram Assembly segment where the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is establishing Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, has appealed to the NPCIL to give priority in employment for heirs, whose families have given land for the upcoming nuclear park and the qualified local youth.

Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu, who represents Radhapuram Assembly segment where the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is establishing Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, has appealed to the NPCIL to give priority in employment for heirs, whose families have given land for the upcoming nuclear park and the qualified local youth.

 In a memorandum submitted to Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, Ajit Kumar Mohanty and NPCIL Chairman and Managing Director Bhuvan Chandra Pathak in Mumbai on Friday, Mr. Appavu said the KKNPP has crossed many hurdles before commencing its operations. When he was the MLA of Radhapuram Assembly segment between 1996 and 2001, the public unrest against the KKNPP reached the crescendo.

 Mr. Appavu, in a bid to resolve the crisis, mediated peace talks between the protesting public and the NPCIL, the project proponent, at the District Collectorate on February 18, 1999 in the presence of Dr. Atindra Sen, the then Director of Projects, NPCIL, Mumbai. It was then agreed in the tripartite meeting that ‘C’ and ‘D’ category jobs of KKNPP would be given to the heirs of those who had given their lands for KKNPP and to the local eligible youngsters.

 “The above said agreement was properly implemented until the DMK regime was in power till April 2011 and those who were appointed under the above said agreement are still working in KKNPP. However, after AIADMK came to power in May 2011, the agreement was completely ignored triggering protests by the locals demanding jobs for the land-losers and qualified local youth. However, the agitators are being pacified with the assurance that they would get jobs in KKNPP as per the agreement signed in 1999,” Mr. Appavu said.

 Since the ‘D’ category jobs in KKNPP had been abolished by the Central Government, the ‘C’ category jobs should be given to the wards of land-losers and the qualified local youth as per the tripartite agreement reached in 1999, Mr. Appavu requested.