Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Oct 10: As a huge boulder was detonated with the help of explosives within the area of Lanco's Udupi Power Corporation Limited (formerly Nagarjuna Plant) near Padubidri on Thursday October 8, the earth in several nearby villages vibrated violently and several houses were damaged.

The works of the power plant are going on at a brisk pace, and the company used explosives to remove a huge boulder that blocked the work. People living in villages like Yellur, Nandikoor, Mudarangady, Palimar, Padubidri, Hejmady, Ucchila and Belapu heard the huge noise and experienced the violent vibration of the land for a few seconds. The sound was heard as far as 30 kms from the site and fear-stricken people living in nearby villages ran out of their houses.

Villagers living in places located near the plant site said that the blasts at the site have been a common feature, on three days every week. However, the blast of Thursday was of the highest intensity ever experienced, they said. The regular explosions have been making the people apprehensive, inflicting losses on their homes and making them desperate, the villagers alleged.