Mangalore Mirror...

Mangalore,July 30: An All India Congress Committee delegation to Niddodi, about 35 km from here where a 4,000 MW Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) is planned, was gheraoed by villagers who wouldn't allow them to enter the village. The seven-member delegation wanted to assess the situation and send a detailed report to the AICC regarding the pros and cons of the project and convey the apprehensions of the locals.  The villagers in and around Niddodi, still fresh from a dawn-to-dusk hunger strike against the proposed project on Sunday, were on edge about a study team visiting the site. The place has been simmering ever since chief minister Siddaramaiah mentioned in the assembly that an UMPP will be set up in Niddodi. However, officially not much information about the project has been shared in the public domain. When the team headed by AICC member PV Mohan landed at Bangerapadavu-Niddodi, they were met by suspicious villagers who mistook them for officials. The absence of any local ...

Mangalore: July 29, 2013:The coastal belt is now witness to another agitation against a mega coal-based thermal power project. This time, the residents have taken cudgels against the 4,000-MW plant proposed at Niddodi in the taluk. They sat on a hunger strike from 6 am to 6 pm on Sunday, to register their protest. With the thermal power project at Nandikur in neighbouring Udupi district having caused considerable environmental damage, they are wary of the damage that a project four times bigger proposed at Niddodi, 35 km from here, may cause. The residents are unanimous in their vow not to allow the power plant to come up, irrespective of the inducements. The residents said no details about the project were forthcoming. But the mention of the project in the budget presented by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has made them sit up and take note. The hunger strike is aimed at expressing opposition to the project in the initial stage itself, The local people’s representatives and offic...