Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has accused America- based non-government organisations for fuelling protests at the Russia-aided Kudunkulam nuclear power station in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

"What's happening in Kudankulam... the atomic energy programme has got into difficulties because these NGOs, mostly I think based in the United States, don't appreciate the need for our country to increase the energy supply," the local media Friday quoted prime minister as saying in an interview to U.S. journal Science.

The prime minister has also blamed these NGOs for opposing genetically modified foods and use of biotechnology to increase food production in the country.

"Biotechnology has enormous potential and in due course of time we must make use of genetic engineering technologies to increase the productivity of our agriculture. But there are controversies," he said.

"There are NGOs, often funded from the United States and the Scandinavian countries, which are not fully appreciative of the development challenges that our country faces," Singh added.

The 130 billion rupee (2.6 billion U.S. dollars) Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, being built with Russian collaboration in Tamil Nadu, is expected to provide respite from the power shortage problem in the state.

But activists and locals have stalled the Indo-Russian joint venture, staging massive protests citing safety concerns in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan last year.

As a result of these frequent protests, the commissioning of two 1,000 megawatt nuclear reactors at the plant has been stalled. Several rounds of talks between a government panel and representatives of villagers opposing the plant have failed to resolve the stand-off.