VILLAGERS BLOCKED ENTRY POINTS TO KUNDANKULAM NUCLEAR PLANT

VILLAGERS BLOCKED ENTRY POINTS TO KUNDANKULAM NUCLEAR PLANT

Villagers protesting Kudankulum nuclear power plant in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu on Thursday, 11th October, 2011, intensified their stir by blocking all entry points to the project. Around 700 scientists and engineers and 5000 contract workers could not reach the plant site after the protesters blocked roads and stopped them from proceeding to the plant.

More than 100 villagers are on indefinite fast while another 1000 are on relay hunger strike near the nuclear plant site demanding the project be scrapped.Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa's continuing support for the project. He wrote second letter to her on Wednesday, apprising her of his meeting with an all-party delegation from the state last week during which demands for stoppage of work on the 2000 MWe Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, being built in collaboration with Russia, were made.

'Apart from the safety and livelihood aspects, where the Government and the people are on the same side, I also took the opportunity to mention that Tamil Nadu is one of the most industrialised states of the country whose power requirements are growing constantly,' he said.'Of the 2000 MWe power to be generated by Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project Units 1 and 2, the allocation of power to Tamil Nadu is 925 MWe. In case the prospects of availability of this power are suddenly withdrawn this would impact on the state's development and industrialisation plans,' Singh said in the letter.

                                                                                      Prof. John Kurakar