The Nationalist Congress Party on Friday said the Centre cannot carry out any project forcibly without taking the local population into confidence.
In-principle approval has been accorded to a site in Maharashtra's Jaitapur for setting up six nuclear power reactors of 1,650 MW each in technical cooperation with France, the government said on Thursday.
Retired justices B G Kolse Patil and P B Sawant of the Lokshasan Andolan are in no mood to withdraw their agitation until the Jaitapur nuclear power plant is abandoned despite the state government's reign of terror against the locals, reports Prasanna Zore.
Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday criticised the Shiv Sena for politicising the Jaitapur nuclear plant issue.Speaking as the opposition in the Maharashtra state assembly sought a debate on the protests in Jaitapur and moved an adjournment motion, Ramesh said nuclear energy is the only clean energy option and the Shiv Sena had no business politicising the issue.The comment came as the situation in Jaitapur took a turn for the worse.
Pushing ahead with the controversial Jaitapur atomic power plant, government on Wednesda said it has decided to have a stand-alone safety system in the designs of each reactors, two of which are expected to be operational by 2019 and announced a bill would be brought to create an autonomous nuclear regulatory body.
President Francois Hollande's visit to India on Thursday saw a protest against French-assisted Jaitapur nuclear power plant by activists who alleged that proper safety measures had not been adopted in the project to prevent a Fukushima like disaster.
One villager was reportedly killed and five others injured in police firing during protests against setting up of a nuclear power plant at Jaitapur in Maharashtra.
Hundreds of villagers agitating against the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project at Madban village in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district on Monday pelted stones on policemen, resulting in injury to a few personnel.
Maharashtra Industry Minister Narayan Rane on Monday blamed the Shiv Sena for instigating people at Jaitapur against the proposed nuclear power plant, which led to a violent protest killing one.
Suggesting that there could be a conspiracy behind the anti-nuclear power project agitation in Jaitapur, the Congress on Tuesday cautioned people against "attempts by forces inimical to India's economic growth".
NPCIL will comply with all the 35 conditions stipulated by MoEF.
During the talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, French President Francois Hollande reassured reliable, uninterrupted and continued access to nuclear fuel supply throughout the entire lifetime of the plants while acknowledging India's need for the same.
Uddhav said Modi lacks the self-confidence of 2014 and 2019.
Batting for the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant, Atomic Energy Commission chief M R Srinivasan has said Maharashtra needs the new generation capacity to meet its industrial and agricultural demands and assured locals that effluents from the plant will not affect the ecology.
According to the activists, hundreds of people from Madban, Jaitapur, Nate and other villages in the district on Monday held spontaneous protests against the 9,900 MW project.
The government has given approval for setting up six nuclear power plants with assistance from French company Areva at Jaitapur in Maharashtra, minister of state in the Primke Minister's Office V Narayanasamy told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Nuclear Power Corporation of India has said that a large number of International Banks have given commitment to finance the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power project in coastal Maharashtra.
In the wake of Japan's nuclear plants being at risk due to the earthquake and tsunami that struck the country, Maharashtra government on Friday said it would go ahead with the controversial Jaitapur nuclear power plant with additional safety measures if necessary.
Amid public resistance to nuclear power projects at Jaitapur and Koodankulam, the Department of Atomic Energy has said the work on both plants will be completed but their could be delay.
A district hospital was ransacked and a few buses were torched on Tuesday in violence during the Shiv Sena bandh in Ratnagiri against police firing that claimed the life of one of the locals protesting the controversial Jaitapur nuclear power project.
The government on Tuesday said it may consider putting in place additional environmental safeguards to ensure safety of the proposed nuclear reactor in Jaitapur in the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan that has endangered atomic power plants there."Based on the technical reviews the NPCIL does, we will certainly be in touch with them and if additional safeguards have to be built in as part of the environmental clearance, we will certainly look at it," said Jairam Ramesh.
Raj also justified his support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing the construction of the Ram Temple and abrogation of Article 370 among other reasons.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Tuesday demanded an immediate halt to the setting up of a nuclear power project in Jaitapur and the environment clearance given to it, saying the crisis in nuclear reactors in Japan following the tsunami warranted a re-examination of the project.
France on Monday became the first country to sign agreements to set up nuclear reactors in India, two years after Indian's nuclear isolation prompted by Pokhran tests in 1998, ended.
Officials hint the visit could finally see a formal defence industrial road map being adopted by both nations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Abu Dhabi on July 15.
Three important developments in the nuclear sector have put the department of atomic energy and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India on the back foot, says Praful Bidwai
'We have launched a massive outreach programme, not only at Koodankulam but at all operating projects and those proposed. You will see the change, though this needs time and some healing,' says Kailash Chandra Purohit, the new chairman and managing director of Nuclear Power Corporation
The Bombay high court on Monday allowed three anti-nuclear activists -- two of them former judges -- to enter Maharashtra's coastal Ratnagiri district, where a proposed atomic power plant is facing opposition.
Enhancing cooperation in the key areas of defence, nuclear energy, counter-terrorism and trade will be focus of French President Francois Hollande's first visit in New Delhi but USD 10-billion deal for Rafale fighter aircraft will not be inked during his two-day stay starting Thursday.
Amid concerns over waste management at the proposed nuclear power plant at Jaitapur in Maharashtra, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said it was not an immediate problem for India and lamented a lack of balanced environmental approach towards nuclear energy.
'We are planning load shedding in such a way that the entire state will not suffer.'
The BJP's oldest ally Shiv Sena remained silent on the performance of the National Democratic Alliance regime.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met top French business leaders with an aim of bringing French investment and technologies to India.
The whale had drifted into shallow waters near the Jaitapur power plant in Ratnagiri district.
Modi will arrive in France on Thursday evening and straightaway head for talks with Macron, who will also host a working dinner for the visiting leader.
A recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
The talks to build a 9,900-megawatt nuclear power plant in Jaitapur will feature prominently during the President's visit
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has alleged the United States could be behind the protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu and claimed a lot of money has been pumped into NGOs leading the campaign.
The government on Monday said there will be no compromise on nuclear safety or livelihood of any section of society in India's pursuit of atomic power, a statement that comes against the backdrop of anti-nuclear protests in Kudankulam and Jaitapur.
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