TIRUNELVELI/THOOTHUKUDI: The agitation against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) gained further momentum on Thursday even as Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said that she shared the sentiments of the local people and was with them in their struggle. “ Tamil Nadu government will certainly act respecting the local peoples’ sentiments. I will be one among you in this issue,” she said campaigning for AIADMK candidates fighting local body polls in Thoothukudi. The CM’s open support, coming the day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to her seeking her support in the implementation of the project and saying that halting work would hit the state’s progress, was a morale-booster to the anti-KKNPP protestors, who upped the ante on the fifth day of the latest phase of agitation.They blocked the road near the plant and prevented workers from entering the premises. The protesters, who had intercepted around 50 contract workers of the plant near Government School at Koodankulam on Wednesday, went a step further as around 3,000 persons blocked the Anjugramam-Ovari Road, around 500 metres from the KKNPP premises, from 8 am.Members of the plant’s permanent workforce, residing at Anu Vijay township at Chettikulam, around 9 km from the plant, generally use this road to go to work. When Express contacted Site Director of KKNPP, Kasinath Balaji, he said, “Of the three shifts, only the first shift workforce, numbering around 350, entered the plant around 8 am, as a result of which regular work at the plant was affected.” Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Chennai, Jayalalithaa said she is yet to receive the PM’s letter. The Koodankulam issue “is not something that can be resolved by the State government overnight. It will take time,” she said.
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