Normal life in this coastal hamlet has been paralysed as the ongoing agitation against the commissioning of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant intensified with villagers taking precautionary measures to prevent the arrest of their leaders.
Activists said supply of milk and other essential commodities was disrupted due to blockade by police. Petitions were filed in the High Court before the principal bench in Chennai and the Madurai bench against the alleged police action, but the State police chief denied the charge. Reports that the police had stopped supply of water, milk and vegetables into Idinthakarai are totally baseless, said Director General of Police K. Ramanujam in a statement on Wednesday. “Police deployment around Kudankulam is only for maintenance of peace and law and order. It is not meant to block supplies,” he added.
All the roads leading here have been blocked and the roads cut at a couple of places, with villagers maintaining that they had done it to thwart the entry of the police. Most villagers spent the night under a ‘pandal' at the protest venue to shield the leaders of the struggle committee. A couple of reporters, who left the village in a car on Tuesday night in search of water, saw granite boulders, pillars, thorny shrubs and broken flag masts of political parties laid across the roads, rendering the stretch unmotorable. Trenches were being dug under the cover of darkness. Transport of milk and other essential commodities was not possible. When asked about the road blockade, protest committee convener S. P. Udayakumar on Wednesday said precautionary measures had to be taken to prevent the police from entering. Electricity supply to Idinthakarai and nearby Kooththenkuzhi remained completely disrupted during the day.
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Shops at Idinthakarai, Vijayapathi, Kooththenkuzhi and Kudankulam remain closed as traders joined the protests.