A defiant SP Udayakumar announced Wednesday that he would continue his fast against the Kudankulam nuclear plant after the Tamil Nadu government decided to go ahead with the controversial project.
Local media reports said that the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) leader had been slapped with charges of sedition and "waging war against the country" and is likely to be arrested soon. Earlier, the police had stopped the media from entering the protest venue at Idinthakarai.
Udayakumar, who commenced his fast on Monday, told NDTV that he was ready for the arrest. "I am not a terrorist, I have not done anything wrong to anybody. I am not a politician. Why should I be arrested?" he asked.
Work has resumed in the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu under heavy security, with over 300 scientists and engineers making their way to the plant Tuesday.
The Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu, which had conducted a safety inspection of the plant by its own panel of experts, has been cracking down on the protesters since Monday.
Meanwhile, Indian Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Dr Srikumar Banerjee said the plant was safe and had not been damaged by the delays. He told a TV channel that they had learnt their lessons from the agitation and insisted that they were planning to connect to the people to make them aware of the plant's safety features.
"In the next three months, the plant would start generating power and by end of the year both the reactors would start to function, producing 2000 megawatts of power and contributing to the national and southern grids," he added.
