By IANS,
Mumbai: For the first time, nuclear experts and opponents and supporters of the 9,900-MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant (JNPP) coming up in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra will participate in a brain-storming session here Tuesday on the issue, an organiser said.
Titled ‘Jaitapur Project: Why Yes? Why No?’, the event is being organised by Prabodhan Prakashan, a trust which, among others, publishes Shiv Sena mouthpieces Saamna and Dopaharka Saamna.
Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Srikumar Banerjee, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) executive director Shashikant Dharne and former AEC chairman Anil Kakodkar, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute’s chief scientist D.C. Ramteke and atomic energy expert Surendra Gadekar are the eminent experts who will join the seminar.
Environmentalist Mahesh Shindikar, president of Tarapur Parisar Vikas Samiti Jitendra Raul and anti-nuclear activist Vivek Montiero too will participate in the session.
The seminar will be moderated by former Supreme Court judge A.P. Shah. Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai will deliver the opening remarks while the party’s executive president Uddhav Thackeray will sum up the day’s proceedings.
In a statement, Prabodhan Prakashan said that nuclear projects similar to JNPP have been rejected other states in the country.
Only in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is not ready to consider the sentiments of the people of Ratnagiri district (in coastal Konkan region of the state), a spokesperson for the trust said.
“After taking over as West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee’s decision to reject the Haripur nuclear power project has been accepted by the central government,” the spokesperson pointed out.
Similarly in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has passed a resolution to stop the ongoing work on the Kudankulam nuclear power project, which is almost in its final stages.
Other projects like Mithiwardi in Gujarat and Gorakhpur village in Fatehabad district of Haryana are also facing stiff opposition from locals, he added.