TIRUNELVELI
Kudankulam Coastal Security Group police have registered cases against 1,030 fishermen who protested against the upcoming coal jetty near Udangudi for the proposed thermal power plant on Monday.
As the fishermen entered the sea in 256 country boats and staged a protest against the construction of the coal jetty at Kallamozhi near Udangudi, saying that it would wipe out their livelihood, Udangudi Village Administrative Officer Vairamuthu filed a complaint with the police.
Based on the complaint, Kudankulam CSG police registered cases against 1,030 fishermen who were in the country boats.
The State government, after acquiring 1,185.60 acres of land at Udangudi for setting up the 800 MW thermal power plant on an outlay of ₹ 7,750 crore, commenced the work on an 8 km-long-bridge to form the jetty, from where coal could be taken to the plant on conveyor belts.
The fishermen, however, claim that the concrete structures, the pollution to be caused by the handling of coal at the jetty and the coal-laden ships coming to the jetty would wipe out their livelihood.
They said coal could be offloaded at Thoothukudi port and brought to Udangudi either by road or by reviving the rail track which was in use during the British era.
