Protesters opposing the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project staged a demonstration against the upcoming plant, in the graveyards in all coastal hamlets of the district on Tuesday.
Condemning the loading of fuel the agitators announced that they would organise demonstrations and special prayers in graveyards in their villages where there are no Central Government offices.
Anticipating a vehement protest, police had been deployed in front of Central Government offices across the district, but no agitation was held in any part of the district except Kooththenkuzhi where the protesters, led by anti-KKNPP struggle committee convener S.P. Udayakumar, staged a demonstration in front of the post office in this coastal hamlet.
At Idinthakarai, the villagers led by Rev. Fr. M.P. Jesuraj went in procession to the graveyard, where they staged a demonstration against the KKNPP and conducted special prayers. Four youths were buried up to neck as part of the agitation.
“Everyone is fully aware that any mishap in the KKNPP will wipe out the people living close to this nuclear complex in no time and its impact will continue to haunt the population for several centuries. Hence, we’re appealing to the State and the Central governments from the burial ground that both of them should take positive steps to save the villages from becoming massive graveyards,” Rev. Fr. Jesuraj said.
Similar protests were organised in other coastal hamlets of the district.
Keywords: graveyards, Kudankulam, Kudankulam protests
Russia has been unable to even retrofit an aircraft carrier. Low tech boilers on the
ship have failed in their first sea trials. How can we expect their untried nuclear
reactors to work efficiently in India. Most people do not realize the complexity of
a nuclear reactor, the sum of its parts and systems have to work flawlessly, a
single breakdown is extremely dangerous. The Fukushima crisis is unabated even
after a year, they have no clue what is going on inside some of the reactors. The
entire zone around the complex is a no-go zone. People who have been
evacuated are still living in Government run shelters. Farmers and fishermen have
lost their towns, villages and their means to live normal lives. So it seems
appropriate that the people around Kudankulam are protesting in a graveyard, as
a warning in event of a nuclear crisis. The areas around Chernobyl as well as
Fukushima are indeed a real graveyard. Does India want to suffer a similar fate?
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