Kudankulam n-plant protests: Cases registered against 4 NGOs

The Union Home Secretary on Tuesday said that cases had been lodged against four NGOs for allegedly diverting funds to fuel protests against Kudankulam nuclear plant project in Tamil Nadu.

``While the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered cases against two NGOs, the State police has lodged cases against two others for violation of provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA),’’ Union Home Secretary R. K. Singh told journalists.

The government crackdown on four NGOs came within days of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stating in an interview to Science magazine that NGOs have been funding agitations against nuclear power plants in India. The NGOs were allegedly diverting foreign funds to fuel protests.

Senior Home Ministry officials said the NGOs were issued show cause notices and their bank accounts had also been frozen, ostensibly for diverting money for funding agitations against nuclear projects. Officials said that it was found that the NGOs had hurriedly ``manufactured’’ receipts to show utilisation of lump sum payments, originally meant for charitable purposes. Officials said the ministry suspected ``serious irregularities’’ in the management of funds by about a dozen NGOs, mostly in Tamil Nadu.

Denying the allegation that the NGO, run by him had received funds from the U.S. and Scandinavian nations, People’s Movement against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) convener S P Udaykumar has said that he would file defamation suit against the Prime Minister for making insinuations that foreign funds were used to organise protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power project.

Meanwhile, Home Ministry officials said that a German national who was picked up by Tamil Nadu Police in Nagercoil for allegedly assisting the anti-nuke protests was deported earlier on Tuesday.

Sonnteg Reiner Hermann, 49, against whom a ``look-out notice’’ was issued by the Home Ministry, was detained by the police monitoring the anti-Kudankulam protests. He had arrived in India on a tourist visa and had been helping the protesters in contravention of the visa rules which invited the ``look-out notice.’’ ``He had no business to be in Nagercoil. He had violated all the visa rules and hence we have deported him,’’ a senior ministry official said.

Acting German Ambassador in New Delhi Cord Meier Klodt said that he had learnt about a German national being sent back. ``We are not in touch with Indian authorities on this issue,’’ he said.

Union Minister of State for Personnel and Prime Minister’s Office V Narayanasamy has also blamed the NGOs for allegedly diverting foreign funds for the anti-nuclear campaign in Kudankulam. ``These NGOs were receiving funds from foreign countries for social service causes like helping the physically handicapped and eradication of leprosy but these were used for anti-nuclear protests,’’ Narayanasamy said.

-Asian Tribune-