Armed men spotted near Kakrapar Atomic plant

Ahmedabad, Aug 22: Two suspicious-looking men said to be armed were spotted wandering today around the Kakrapar Atomic power plant in Vyara, 75 km away from Surat, setting off panic in and around the plant.

The whole plant has been cordoned off and vigorous search is being carried out by the security agencies.

Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah told UNI that the two men were only spotted outside the plant and not inside and that too is yet to be confirmed. The villagers claimed that they have spotted two men looking like having arms with them.

He said a massive combing operation of the plant complex is on by the jawans of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and police.

The Minister said the Plant has several rings of security guarded by the CISF, so it is impossible to breach the inner security ring of the plant.

The Kakrapar Atomic plant has two units of 220 MW capacity each.

The first unit become critical in 1993 while the second unit in 1995.

The station has operated very well over the past years and has enabled the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd achieve attractive operational surplus.

Security at nuclear facilities across the country was recently stepped up following reports that terrorists could target them.

UNI