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Kudankulam Unit 1 to be operational soon: PM

Russia backs India for UNSC seat

Russia on Friday backed India's bid for a permanent seat in an expanded UN Security Council as well as its aspirations to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional security grouping. Moscow is one of the five veto-wielding members of the UNSC and one of the founders of the SCO.

Moscow, December 16
Clearing the uncertainty, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today announced that the first unit of the Kudankulam nuclear power project will be operationalised in a "couple of weeks" but India and Russia did not sign any agreement on construction of the third and fourth units.

After talks with President Dmitry Medvedev at the Kremlin, Manmohan Singh also declared that the second unit will be commissioned six months later and gave an assurance that there will be no problem relating to safety and that "temporary problems" due to agitation over Kudankulam would be overcome.

The one-on-one talks between the two leaders before the delegation-level parleys lasted for nearly two hours after which the two countries signed a crucial agreement for technical assistance in joint production of 42 more frontline Sukhoi-MKI 30 jets.

It was among the five agreements initialled in the presence of the two leaders besides a joint statement on Indo-Russian strategic partnership. India currently has a fleet of 120 Sukhois.

The commercial contract for construction of the third and fourth units of the Kudankulam plant, which was widely expected to be signed during Singh's visit for the 12th annual Indo-Russian Summit, was not initialled.

The PM said the two sides have concluded negotiations and agreed on the terms and conditions for the Russian credit for units three and four.

Responding to a question by a Russian journalist at a joint news conference with Medvedev on the Russian-aided Kudankulam project, Manmohan Singh said, Unit 1 and 2 were at an advanced stage. "I am confident that in a couple of weeks we should be able to go ahead with operationalising Kudankulam 1 and Kudankulam 2 a period of six months thereafter," Singh said. He said there were "temporary problems" due to agitation by some people out of concern over nuclear safety that could impact on the livelihood of the people in the plant area in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu.

The PM expressed confidence that the government will be able to overcome these problems and convince the protesters that their concerns are adequately taken care of. — PTI