CPI (M) stages protests demanding food security in Tamil Nadu

CPI (M) staged demonstrations in front of fair price shops and Ration shops across Tamilnadu on Friday demanding the Central government to ensure food security . Demonstrations and Dharnas were organised in more than 1000 places. CPIM urged the Centre not to reduce its allotment of rice and kerosene to States. They asked the State government to provide 35 kilos of free rice in fair price shops. Poverty line set by Central government should not be unrealistic. There should not be any delay in the supply of cooking gas cylinders and they must be supplied through fair price shops. Fair price shops set up by the State government are not functioning fairly and many consumers have expressed dissatisfaction over the negligence of officials, who failed to monitor activities of employees deputed to such shops. CPIM Stressed its importance and asked to seek attention of authorities concerned to sort out shortcomings in the management of public distribution system.

CPI(M) holds Mahadharna in Vijayawada

 

The Vijayawada city unit of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI(M) staged a ‘maha dharna’ (a massive sit-in protest) in front of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation office on Friday. The ‘maha dharna’ is being organised to register protest against ‘negligence’ of the city by the State Government.

The city unit of CPI(M) has demanded that the State government conduct elections to urban local bodies and put an end to special officers’ rule. 

Addressing a gathering, CPI(M) floor leader in the State Assembly Julakanti Ranga Reddy said the Congress government had neglected the local bodies, and was more interested in revenues than providing facilities to people. The government, which was eager to fill its coffers, levied tax even on garbage collection. The Congress promised to construct 28,000 houses in the city. It, however, miserably failed in identifying land. Governance deteriorated with frequent change in guard in the government.

MLAs and MP were least concerned about the grants and funds that were due to the VMC. They had not taken any steps in prevailing upon the government to release the dues under the JNNURM programme, he said. CPI(M) city secretary Ch. Babu Rao, secretariat members — Donepudi Kasinath, D. Vishnuvardhan, and U. V. Rama Raju came down heavily on the VMC for its miserable failure in completing the developmental works. They pointed out that roads were inundating with slightest rain. The corporation was dumping garbage in Vambay Colony, a residential area.

The CPI(M), as a prelude to maha dharna, organised padayatras in about 50 divisions in the city. The party also organised group meetings in every division to create awareness among the public. The CPI(M) received many petitions from the people on various problems faced by them. The petitions were submitted to the municipal commissioner at the dharna. The ‘shortsightedness’ of officials and ruling Congress party pushed the corporation into doldrums. The Congress leaders painted a rosy picture about the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) programme and city development. In reality, it became a curse to the city. Hardly 35 to 50 per cent works were completed though the programme came to an end, he said. 

(Courtesy : The Hindu)

Jaitapur Project Untenable

The National Committee in Solidarity with Jaitapur Struggle met in New Delhi on July 18, 2012. It has issued the following statement:

The Fukushima disaster has raised several fundamental issues in regard to the Jaitapur project. The location of six reactors in Jaitapur raises the risk of an accident substantially. Also, it is not clear how the issues of spent fuel storage are being addressed in Jaitapur considering the kind of risks that are now clear after Fukushima.  The Committee noted that there is not one plant of this design that has yet been commissioned in the world, with plants in  Okilkuoto and Flamanville running into serious problems, both in their construction and regulatory issues.

The reactors being purchased from Areva company in France are of untested technology and are exorbitantly expensive. So far the actual price and details of the agreement between Areva and the NPCIL have not been made public. The cost per unit of electricity of such a plant will be 3-4 times that of equivalent coal-fired plants.

The committee also noted that the that time bound conditions imposed on NPCIL in the Environmental Clearance granted to the project in November 2010 are already being flouted.

The meeting decided to address a letter to the Prime Minister immediately raising these concerns. The Committee will also write to the Minister of Environment and Forests about the non compliance with environmental clearance preconditions .

It has been decided that these issues will be jointly raised in Parliament by MPs belonging to different political parties. For this purpose the Committee will prepare a scientific, technical and economic backgrounder which will explain why the project is untenable and must be reviewed.

A national seminar on issues of safety, environmental safety and techno economic viability relating to the Jaitapur project will also be organised by the committee.

The meeting was attended by: Prakash Karat, Communist Party of India (Marxist), A.B. Bardhan and D Raja, Communist Party of India, Ramvilas Paswan & Abdul Khaliq, Lok Janshakti Party, Dr. Venugopal Reddy, Telugu Desam Party, Danish Ali, Janata Dal (Secular), Vivek Monterio, Maharashtra, CITU, Prabir Purkayastha, Delhi Science Forum and others.