Anti-nuke protesters, who gathered in Idinthakarai on Sunday, set October 11 as the deadline for the Central government to completely halt work at the Koodankuklam nuclear power project site. They have decided to continue their fast till that date.
Gathering for the token fast on Sunday morning, around 2,000 people from several coastal villages heard the details of the meeting the committee members of the protest movement had with the Prime Minister on October 7. With the consent of the people present, the committee members, headed by coordinator S.P. Uthayakumar, had a two-hour consultation meeting in which it was resolved that works of all kinds, including the general maintenance activities at the nuclear plant, should be completely stopped as per the Cabinet decision of the state government before October 11.
Further, seeking the state government’s intervention to ensure the complete suspension of the works, the protest committee also decided to continue the fast until October 11 when the next course of action would be decided.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Congress committee president K.V. Thangabalu, while speaking to reporters in Thoothukudi, said that the construction works at the site were already stopped though it was not technically feasible to halt the maintenance work.
Mr Thangabalu is hoping the issue will be amicably settled soon.
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Young Woman assaulted, stripped in U.P.
Age Correspondent
Lucknow, Oct. 9
In a shocking incident, a young woman was beaten up and paraded naked in a village in Lakhimpur district on Saturday evening by the local people who believed that her husband had helped a married dalit woman of the village elope with her paramour.
The incident took place in Isanagar police station area of Lakhimpur Kheri district at a time when the people could not trace the woman’s husband and the alleged accused.
Relatives and neighbours of the woman, who had eloped, assaulted the woman and stripped her in full public view but no one came forward to help her.
Lakhimpur district magistrate (DM) Abhishek Prakash and SP Amit Chandra visited the place after they learnt of the incident later in the night and five persons have been arrested.
SP Amit Chandra told reporters that the incident was sequel to the elopement of 22-year-old Jayanti, the married daughter of one Hardwari Lal.
Jayanti, who had been staying at her father’s place in Chandwapur village for the last two years after separation from her husband, had an affair with one Mannu of the same village. She went missing from her house on October 4.