One person was killed in police firing as protests against the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power plant in coastal Ratnagiri district on Monday turned violent with agitators setting ablaze a police station.
The man, identified as Tavrez Sejkar, was killed in police firing at Sakhrinate village when around 600-700 locals protesting against the proposed 9,900 MW project, attacked the local police station, the Maharashtra Home Minister, Mr R.R. Patil, told the State Assembly.
Anger was brewing in the area following the Union Environment Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh's statement here last Friday ruling out a “rethink” on the project. Mr Patil said that the protesters were suspected to have decamped with some firearms and ammunition.
“A deputy superintendent of police and some constables have been injured in the incident,” Mr Patil said, adding the crowd set afire some police vehicles, forcing the police to fire in the air to scare the protesters away.
However, as that failed to bring the situation under control, police fired at the crowd resulting in the death of Sejkar, he said.
Hundereds of people from Madban, Jaitapur, Nate and other affected villages in the district today held spontaneous protests against the project, said Ms Vaishali Patil, activist and member of Konkan Bachao Samiti, an NGO opposing the project.
The project with six nuclear rectors of 1,600 MW each will be one of the largest N-power projects in the world.
“We are demanding the State government scrap the project but it is so adamant. It is not worried about a repeat of Japan's nuclear crisis here,” Ms Patil said.
Mounting pressure
Long-running opposition to the proposed plant at Jaitapur has hardened amid the unfolding nuclear crisis in Japan, with village posters depicting scenes of last month's devastation at the Fukushima plant and warning of what could be in store for the Konkan region.
Shortly after the earthquake and tsunami that crippled the plant at Fukushima and triggered a global rethink on nuclear power, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said India's atomic energy programme was on track but regulators would review safety systems to ensure that plants could withstand similar natural disasters.
“I do not believe that there is any panic reaction in terms of calling for a halt for the nuclear projects,” said Mr M.R. Srinivasan, former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, who selected the Jaitapur site.
“We will certainly review, in respect of new projects, the safety of those sites and the installations we propose to bring there in the context of an extreme, low probability but nonetheless possible natural event such as occurred in Fukushima,” he said.
VANDALISM AND CRICKET
A recent visit to the 938 hectare (2,216 acre) site saw few signs of activity other than a group of policemen playing cricket. Defaced signs and milemarkers on the road to Jaitapur are evidence of the opposition to the plant.
While the surrounding area is thinly populated, farmers in nearby villages grow cashews, jackfruit and the Alphonso variety of mangoes considered to be the world's best.
About 120 of the 2,370 families eligible for compensation for their land have accepted it, according to Mr Vivek Bhide, a doctor and mango farmer from the district. Community members say they are unified, and those who have accepted compensation are mostly absentee landowners.
Nearby, the bustling fishing port of Sakhri Nate is home to some 600 vessels that bring in about 50,000 kg a day of prawns, squid, kingfish and other species. Residents fear the plant will disrupt access to fishing grounds and raise water temperatures.
“The warm water which will come into the sea will drive away the fish,” said Majeed Latigowarkar, a 45-year-old fisherman with a clipped moustache, striped shirt and skullcap.
He said officials have offered electronic gear such as fish-finders and GPS systems in a failed effort to win the support. “If the government wants to give us something, just give us back our sea,” he said.
Stiff resistance
Residents in Jaitapur are encouraged by the long history of civil disobedience in India and say they are bolstered in their argument by the crisis in Japan.
“It only vindicates the doubts, views, we have been raising for the past few years,” said Mr Mangesh Chavan, who lives nearby and works in agricultural development, referring to Fukushima.
Mr Praveen Gavankar, a farmer and leader of opposition to the nuclear plant, said villagers plan to start farming on the site and if the government tries to block them, there would be “serious consequences.”