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• The convenor of People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy today suggested converting the controversial Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant into a natural gas-based plant.In a letter to Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, S P Udayakumar said "If the conversion is done, there will be no loss of money and the eight crore Tamil people also will be saved."Udayakumar, whose group is spearheading the protest demanding the scrapping of the Indo-Russian project, also noted that the state expert committee did not meet the people of the villages around Koodankulam and failed to convince them about the safety of the Plant.
• The committee, set up at the initiative of Jayalalithaa, lost its credibility because even before inspecting the plant its members stated that the plant was safe enough, he alleged.He said though former Atomic Energy Commission chief M R Srinivasan was appointed as a member of the committee, protesters had accepted the committee because they had faith in the Chief Minister."However, when they asked the committee to meet the local people, they refused to do so. Besides the KNPP had been thrust on them in an undemocratic way," he contended.Udayakumar, who is leading a 72-hour fast since Monday midnight, also said that the movement was not funded by NGOs, or foreign countries or political leaders, but by poor fishermen, traders and the public.

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