Air quality too, to be monitored at five spots, during Deepavali

It’s a busy time of year for officials of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). A week head of Deepavali, they have begun measuring levels of noise and ambient air quality at five places in the city. Monitoring stations have been established in thickly-populated areas like Besant Nagar, T. Nagar, Sowcarpet, Nungambakkam and Triplicane to collect dust samples before, during and after the festival. According to an official, noise levels will be recorded for six hours every evening and pollution levels, every 24 hours from 6 a.m.

The debate over nuclear energy will go on, but the issue with the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) is one of the several illegalities on which it is founded.

In 1988, India inked the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant deal with the former Soviet Union. Two key elements in it were: the highly dangerous and toxic “Spent Nuclear Fuel” (SNF) would be shipped back to the Soviet Union; and the massive volumes of fresh water required to cool the plant would be supplied from Pechiparai dam, in Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) formally granted approval on May 9, 1989 on this basis. But there was no further progress until 1997.

Faults them for indulging in “irregular and illegal” activities

The Madras High Court Bench here on Friday criticised anti-nuclear agitators at Idinthakarai and Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district for continuing their protests, which turned violent on September 10, regardless of the fact that the Supreme Court was seized of the matter following a judgement passed by the Principal Seat of the High Court on August 31 in favour of the nuclear power plant.

Demanding the early commissioning of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, Congress cadres staged a demonstration in front of the Tirunelveli Railway Junction on Thursday.

Led by former Union Minister R. Dhanushkodi Athithan, Tirunelveli MP S. S. Ramasubbu and president of Tirunelveli Parliamentary Constituency Youth Congress president T. S. Saravanakumar, the protestors raised slogans demanding the early commissioning of the KKNPP and condemning the prolonged power cuts being enforced across Tamil Nadu.

Founder president of Akhila India Samaththuva Makkal Katchi R.

Wages for sanitary workers increased, says Mayor

Councillors, cutting across party lines, urged corporation officials to engage adequate number of personnel to clear roadside garbage getting piled up. At the council meeting held here on Wednesday, Chairman of Melapalayam Zone, Hyder Ali of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, who raised the issue, said garbage cleaning in his zone was in a pathetic state owing to poor number of sanitary workers.

If the proposal gets the nod it would be the first in the country

If the innovative proposal of constructing a wildlife overpass, that has been forwarded to the State Government by the Department of Forest here, gets the official nod, it will permanently end incidents of deer getting crushed under wheels of zooming vehicles on the national highway even as the herbivores move out of their habitat at Gangaikondan in search of food and water.

Commissioning of first unit of KNPP was scheduled for Dec last yr but has been delayed due to year-long protests

Seeking to take their campaign against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant to a global level, anti nuclear activists today sought support of the international community in their efforts to scrap the project and make the world 'nuclear free'. In a letter to various Foreign Missions in New Delhi and here, People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) said though global nuclear industry tries to promote nuclear power as the answer to global warming and climate destruction, the global community knows for sure that "poisoned Earth with nuclear waste cannot be the answer for polluted air".

Commissioning of the second unit is expected to follow early next year

The much-delayed Kudankulam nuclear power project is expected to become operational shortly, Ratan Kumar Sinha, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission said today. "The work on the construction of the first of the two 1000 MW Light Water Reactors (LWRs) at Kudankulam is complete," Sinha said addressing a function in Mumbai to commemorate the 103rd birth anniversary of Homi Jehangir Bhabha, the founder of India's nuclear programme.

Nearly 1,800 agitators, including party leaders, arrested and released later

Hundreds of anti-nuclear activists, including many owing allegiance to different political parties, were arrested here on Monday after they attempted to march towards the Secretariat. The protesters alleged that the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project posed a grave threat to the safety of the people and demanded its closure.