Stir against TN nuclear project intensifies

In the wake of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh writing to Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa to ensure that work at the Kudankulum nuclear power plant in Tirunelveli district of the state is not stopped, protesting villagers intensified their stir today, blocking all entry points to the project site and turning back workers and officials.

Around 700 scientists and engineers and 5,000 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 1,000 are on relay hunger strike near the nuclear plant site demanding the project be scrapped.

Fisherfolk too have joined the stir spearheaded by the Peoples' Movement Against Nuclear Power, and decided not to put to sea till the villagers' demands are met.

On Wednesday Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to J Jayalalithaa for the second time in 10 days, telling her that shutting down the Kudankulam Nuclear Power project would have an adverse impact on the state's development. Jayalalithaa has declared herself against the project, backing protesters at the site.

Singh has restated his earlier offer to set up a ''small group of experts to interact with the representatives of the people of the region to satisfy their legitimate concerns''.