Shiv Sena offers support to nuclear plant protesters

Mumbai: As the stiff opposition to the proposed nuclear plant in Jaitapur, Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra, from local villagers grows stronger, the Shiv Sena is also throwing in its support to the people of Konkan region, once a stronghold of the party.

Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray who met a delegation of villagers from Ratnagiri on Sunday, assured them that the Sena would continue to oppose the project.

Thackeray said: "We are not against development but will oppose any project that is forced upon the people of that region."

Of all the mainstream political parties, the Sena has been the most vocal in resisting the 9,900 MW power project of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) at Madban village.

Local villagers are concerned about the health hazards and environmental impact it may have on the region, where it is feared the fragile biodiversity of the Western Ghats as well as their livelihood — farming and fishing — would be affected.

Thackeray also described Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh as having "changed his stand on the Jaitapur power plant like a chameleon" after being sympathetic to people's concerns.

Even activists and members of the Konkan Bachao Samiti (KBS) and Janahit Seva Samiti organisations spearheading opposition to the project have criticised Ramesh for giving conditional environmental clearance to the project on November 28.

This came well in advance of India and French company Areva signing a deal to build the nuclear reactor.

The KBS had argued that environmental clearance should not be given.