Winding up the protest in the sea against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) Monday, the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) will chalk out its next course of agitation October 14, said an activist."We will have a meeting of community leaders October 14 to decide on the next course of action against the nuclear power project. The people are protesting against the project for the past 420 days and they should not be ignored," S.P. Udayakumar, coordinator of PMANE, told
IANS by phone Monday.He said a protest outside the Tamil Nadu state assembly will be held October 29.According to Udayakumar, the sea protest was successful.Opposing
the KKNPP, fishermen, traders, activists, and cadres of political parties held a protest Monday in the sea near the atomic power plant, around 500 metres from the Koodankulam shore."Around 1,000 fishermen's boats from Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin with over 10,000 people participated in the protest," M. Pushparayan, one of the leaders of the PMANE told IANS.Around 3,000 policemen have been deployed in the Koodankulam area to prevent any untoward incidents.This is the second time that a protest has been organised in the sea against the KKNPP.Last
month, hundreds of fishermen blocked the approach channel to the Tuticorin port around 600 km from here. The fishermen dispersed in the afternoon and the operations of the port were largely unaffected.India's
atomic power plant operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is building two 1,000 MW reactors with Russian help at Koodankulam since 2001.For more than a year, PMANE has been leading the people's protests against the power plant.Villagers
under the PMANE banner have opposed the project fearing for their safety, especially after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan March 2011.NPCIL recently completed loading the first reactor with enriched uranium fuel bundles numbering 163. The process to close the reactor vessel is currently on.
Comments
0 comment