By IANS,
Chennai : Speculation prevailed in Kudankulam and Idinthakarai villages of Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district Friday as a senior police official arrived to review the security arrangements near the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP). Police termed it a routine visit.
Additional Director General of Police (ADGP)(Law and Order) S. George visited the spot to review the security arrangements at the plant, against which villagers have been protesting since last August.
“This is the first time the ADGP is visiting the place after our protests started. We are not sure the reason for his visit,” an anti-KNPP activist told IANS.
Seeking to clear the air about the visit, Tirunelveli Superintendent of Police Vijayendra Bidari said the visit was routine. “The ADGP (Law and Order) had come for a range meeting at Kanyakumari. He also visited Kudankulam to see the security arrangements made there for the past couple of months,” Bidari told IANS.
He asserted that no other special significance should be attached to the visit and declined to comment whether there is any change in attitude of the Jayalalithaa government towards the anti-KNPP activists.
The stir against the two reactors being built by India’s nuclear power plant operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) began last August at Idinthakarai village.
The Tamil Nadu government had passed a resolution urging the central government to stop work at the power plant till the fears of the villagers are allayed.
Recently an expert committee set up by the state government to look into the safety of the reactors and the fears of the people submitted a report, generally believed to be positive for the project.
Representatives of the protesters also met Jayalalithaa a couple of days back and reiterated their concerns about the plant safety.
While the NPCIL officials and others expect the state government to change its stance towards the agitators so that the first unit can be commissioned and the power fed into the grid, suspense still continues as Jayalalithaa maintains a studied silence on the issue.
NPCIL officials told IANS that it would take at least three/four months to commission the first unit as work force has to be mobilised from outside the state and the systems have to be checked thoroughly.