TIRUNELVELI: Demanding permission to return home, over 800 migrant workers, staying at the labour quarters of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP), staged a protest on Saturday. During the agitation, two police personnel, deployed for protection, were allegedly attacked by the protesters.
Sources said that over 4,800 workers, a majority of them from the northern states of the country, have been residing at the quarters to carry out construction work in the nuclear power plant unit. The workers were not provided with their salary for the past two months, and fearing the surge in Covid-19 cases in the State, they staged the protest, demanding permission to go home, added sources.
Following the agitation, several officials, including Superintendent of Police Omprakash Meena, Cheranmahadevi Sub-Collector Pratik Tayal and MLA I S Inbathurai, held talks with the workers. Sources said that the officials had applied online to send the workers to their homes. Once the authorities concerned in the northern states give assent, the workers would be transported to their respective states, added sources.
The two injured police personnel -- Kudankulam Inspector Antony Jegatha and driver Sakthivel -- were admitted to a government hospital. The Kudankulam police registered cases against 32 workers under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act, and Section 3E of the Epidemic Diseases Act.