Clamour grows against nuclear plant in Madhya Pradesh

P Naveen | TNN | Updated: Feb 18, 2017, 01.56 PM IST

BHOPAL: The Rs 17,000-crore nuclear power plant project in Chutka, Madhya Pradesh, has run into a roadblock with villagers launching a ‘satyagraha’ against it.

Kunda village, one of the three affected by the project on the banks of Narmada, has not only passed resolutions rejecting the government proposal to set up the nuclear plant but also nominated three persons to move court, said sources.

“This project should be shifted elsewhere. It will not only deprive people of long term livelihood but also prove disastrous for the environment,” said Meera Bai, president of the women’s wing of Chutka Parmanu Virodhi Sangarsh Samiti. Dayal Singh of Kunde village echoed Meera and said he is among the three nominated by the village to fight a legal battle. The others are Monelal and Amar Singh.

The area witnessed a satyagraha andolan by villagers two days ago. Several organisations and social activists, including Medha Patkar, have raised their voice against the proposed nuclear power plant. The site is about 100km from Jabalpur and the famous marble rock formations on the Narmada and a mere 35 km from Kanha national park. Most of those affected are tribals, who were earlier displaced by the “Bargi Dam” in the 1990s. Being displaced again rankles them.
“How can the government be so ruthless as to displace villagers twice? Moreover, Bargi dam was constructed for irrigation, to help farmers. Giving up the site for a nuclear plant will only pollute the water with hazardous waste discharge,” said Rajkumar Sinha, convener of an organisation for those affected by the dam. “On the one hand, the government claims it is trying to save Narmada and on other it is allowing a nuclear plant on its banks.”

Sinha and the other protesters claim that the Centre and state government have joined hands to push ahead with the project, ignoring its “dangerous consequences.” Multiple organisations from Bhopal and other areas had been campaigning against the project by distributing booklets and handbills with information about nuclear power plants and their disasters elsewhere in the world.

In 2014, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited had declared the Chutka plant safe. An environmental impact assessment report filed by the corporation says the project is in the low seismic activity zone-II and is “environmentally benign, techno-economically viable and sustainable

The local administration says most of the people have accepted the compensation package. “We don’t think that there is any reason left for them to protest. More than 85% people living in these villages have accepted the compensation and are happy,” said Mandla collector Preeti Maithili told TOI.

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