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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Anti-Nuclear plant stir hits Kudankulam economy by Jaya Menon

Anti-Nuclear plant stir hits Kudankulam economy by Jaya Menon

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published Published on Oct 24, 2011   modified Modified on Oct 24, 2011

It was once a sleepy hamlet with rolling stretches of barren land, little agricultural activity and hardly any economy to boast of. But the nuclear power project transformed Kudankulam drastically. There was a minor real estate boom, income levels rose and lifestyles changed. Today, in the place of a small vegetable shop is a market place selling a wide variety of vegetables. All that is set to be reversed. 

The anti-nuclear protests at Idunthakkarai, neighbouring Kudankulam and barely a kilometre from the nuclear power plant site in Tirunelveli district in south Tamil Nadu, are having their impact on the economy of the surrounding villages. In Kudankulam, for instance, thousands of migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, who worked for the nuclear power project and depended on the villagers for lodging and food, have been thrown out. And the sizeable income that villagers earned by renting out rooms and catering to the other needs of the workers has virtually dried up. 

Bhagya Nagar colony in Kudankulam is an example of how the nuclear power project ushered in new life for this once largely agrarian village. The main road is flanked by small, terraced village houses and low-roofed structures with tiny match-box sized rooms - rooms that brought residents a view of the prosperous life. 

A Anbaiya works as an office assistant in a private school in Kudankulam, earning a monthly salary of Rs 14,000. But that was like a perk for Anbaiya whose major revenue - about Rs 40,000 - came from rentals from the 30-room building he constructed with a loan of Rs 15 lakh in 2006. 

About a month ago, Anbaiya threw himself into the anti-nuclear protests in Kudankulam, heeded the warnings of village elders and evicted his 35 tenants. But now, there is the lurking fear that he will soon fall on hard times. "I have to pay interest of Rs 15,000 every month. I will now have to take a loan to pay the monthly installments as well as take care of the household expenses," he told TOI. He also has to shoulder the hefty annual fees for the engineering education of his daughter and son. 

The initial anti-nuclear wave that gripped the village is slowly giving way to worries on more practical fronts. Thirty-year-old S Manikandan's wife will soon give birth to their first baby. "I have parents to look after as well as my widowed sister. It will be a tight situation," he said. His 30-room building has fallen silent, and he is short of the monthly income of Rs 50,000 he used to get by renting rooms to labourers. He holds a diploma in mechanical engineering, but is not hopeful of making a decent salary with a job in a firm. 

J Vimalan, a teacher in the village, said, "At least we will have a peaceful life without worries of a nuclear disaster in our backyard." But for how long, wondered I Senthil Kumar, 35, who earned a tidy monthly income of Rs 15,000 from the 12 rooms he let out until about a month ago. 

Villagers said the predominant sentiments were against the nuclear project. While the elections to the local bodies in the past had been won by candidates who supported the nuclear project, this time the votes were for those who opposed it. Sandal V Muthuraja, the new Kudankulam panchayat president, won the election because he gave an undertaking to the Idunthakkarai parish priest Fr Jayakumar that he would never support the nuclear project. 

In Idunthakkarai, the relay protests continued. At the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, chief engineer S V Jinnah said the 100-odd workers inside the plant had been cut down further. "We are just waiting for some positive signs now," he said. 


The Times of India, 24 October, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Anti-Nuclear-plant-stir-hits-Kudankulam-economy/articleshow/10467805.cms


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