By IANS,
Chennai : Braving intermittent rains on Diwali, protestors continued their fast against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) for the ninth consecutive day Wednesday in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu.
“Today, people from Voovery village participated in the relay fast. There were around 700 people at the protest venue,” M. Pushparayan, convener of Coastal People’s Federation, told IANS.
State-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is building two 1,000 MW nuclear power reactors with Russian technology and equipment in Kudankulam, around 650 km from here. The first unit is expected to go on stream in December. The project is estimated to cost around Rs.13,000 crore.
Villagers protesting against the power plant laid siege to it Oct 13 and did not allow anyone to go in. The administration had asked officials of NPCIL to keep away till the situation normalised.
“Today (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday) are Diwali holidays for us and we are at home celebrating the festival. However, we have not heard anything from the district administration on the prospects of us going to office Friday,” a senior NPCIL employee told IANS from Kudankulam.