Live: Narayanasamy says Kudankulam plant is safe

12:40 pm: MoS V Narayanasamy defended the action against the protestors at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant saying that there had been multiple probes to ensure that the nuclear power plant posed no risk to the villagers living near it. He pointed out that the Prime Minister had constituted an experts committee, who after visiting the plot had submitted a report and most of them had said the plant is very safe. The Minister also pointed out that former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam also visited the plant and also said the plant had all the required safety features. In addition the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu also constituted a committee and also gave a report which said the plant was safe, he said. 12:30 pm: The police is still dispersing the thousands of protestors who have gathered at the beach near the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant and they are attempting to detain as many of them as possible. Television visuals showed police personnel dragging away women injured in the police charge and many people fleeing from the site of the protest, while others threw sand at the charging policemen. There has been no comment from the state government or Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on the decision to remove the protestors from the site of their protest. The police has also sealed all roads leading into Kudankulam to prevent more protestors from reaching the site, CNN IBN reported. Here’s a video of the incident that was taken as police blocked the protestors from going towards the plant. ( ) 12:00 pm: Police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse thousands of protestors from the site of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, causing some of them them to flee to the sea in boats in a bid to escape. Police had earlier warned protestors and asked them to leave the beach, but the villagers had refused. Thousands of villagers, including women and children living near the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) made the Kudankulam beach behind the upcoming power plant the site of their protest yesterday despite chilly winds, rough sea and shortage of drinking water and food, said a leading activist. [caption id=“attachment_449782” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption] The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), that is spearheading the anti-KNPP movement for more than a year, has decided to take its fight against the Rs 17,120 crore project near the plant itself and away from Idinthakarai village near Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, around 650 km from here. India’s atomic power plant operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is building two 1,000 MW reactors with Russian equipments since 2001. Villagers protesting under the PMANE banner have opposed the project for the past one year, fearing for their lives following the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan. Speaking to IANS over phone M Pushparayan, a PMANE leader said, “We came out in procession waving white flags from Idinthakarai around 10.30 am and went straight to the beach in order to avoid any direct confrontation with the large police contingent present in the vicinity.” Around 8,000 people, including women and children, from eight villages near Kudankulam assembled with their children at the beach and have been there since Sunday morning. With inputs from IANS