Protests elsewhere, but support in KKNPP area

CHENNAI: Even as opposition to the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) spreads to places beyond Idinthakarai—Monday alone witnessed a huge rally in Nagercoil and two protests in Chennai—people of the village adjoining Koodankulam are giving a thumbs-up to the project that has brought visible prosperity to them.In Chettikulam village, 8 km south of Koodankulam on Kanyakumari-Tiruchendur road, shops are doing brisk business, in sharp contrast to the scene in Idinthakarai or Koodankulam, where all commercial establishments are closed and a posse of police guards the gates of the nuclear plant with riot-control vehicles like Vajra and Varun.Shops in Chettikulam, opposite Baba Gate of Arun Vijay township— home to the nuclear scientific co­mmunity includin­g Russia­ns, came up after work on KKNPP began, says Siva­chandran, who runs Hotel Kavin, on the highway, which has an airconditioned dining room. His fellow villagers are not in favour of the agitation at Idinthakarai, he says, as the project has brought jobs and business opport­unities, besides high prices for their parched scrublands.One shop even stocks Russian cig­arettes, and foreigners are seen on the main road riding bicycles, carryin­g babies and shopping busily, though many Indian famili­es in the township have gone to their native places for Diwali.