A day after the state government constituted a four-member expert panel on Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP), the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) on Friday demanded removal of M.R. Srinivasan from the panel to allay people’s safety concerns, calling him “pro-nuclear”.

While welcoming the constitution of the four-member state panel, the group objected to the inclusion of Mr Srinivasan who was a well-known pro-nuclear person.

Mr Srinivasan, who was the former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, was also a member of the site selection committee in the 1980s for the KKNPP and has been writing and speaking in favour of nuclear power and the Koodankulam project itself, S.P. Udayakumar, convener of PMANE, said in a statement.

The anti-nuke activist said people had expected that the state expert team would be neutral and independent “but Dr Srinivasan is neither.

So it is hard for PMANE to accept Dr Srinivasan.” He also asked the chief minister to replace Mr Srinivasan with another expert and expand the team with experts in Geology, Oceanography and Hydrology.

PMANE also requested Ms Jayalalithaa to make the state expert team meet its own experts, consider their findings and engage in a “genuine dialogue” and listen to the fears and concerns of the people and arrive at a conclusion in a democratic manner on the basis of majority opinion.