N-energy important for growth, says PM

There would be no looking back on nuclear energy, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

This comes days after the state government scrapped a nuclear power project at Haripur in Purba Medinipur.

“The availability of safe and affordable energy is an important factor in enabling us to realise our aspirations of growth. Nuclear energy will play an important role in our quest for clean and environment-friendly energy,” the PM said at the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics here. He is on a two-day visit to the state.

Safety, he assured, would be first priority. “We are in the process of expanding our civil nuclear energy programme. Even as we do so, we have to ensure that the use of nuclear energy meets the highest safety standards. This is a matter on which there can be no compromise,” he said.

State power minister Manish Gupta recently said in the assembly that the government had decided to scrap the Haripur project. The proposed project was part of an India-Russia agreement for cooperation in the sector.

Singh urged the private sector for more investment in science and technology.

Singh met chief minister Mamata Banerjee and ministers of the state cabinet at Raj Bhavan on Sunday. His programme tomorrow include a meeting with Left Front leaders and opposition leader Suryakanta Mishra. He will also address meetings at the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta and Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur.

Though it was his first visit to the state after the new government took charge, the Prime Minister did not make any political comments.