New Delhi: CPI(M) and other parties,
including scientists and activists, on Sunday came together to
form a national committee to support the struggle against the
Jaitapur nuclear project in Maharashtra.
A 15-member National Committee in Support of Jaitapur
Struggle will have CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, his
CPI counterpart A B Bardhan, former Atomic Energy Regulatory
Board Chairman Dr A Gopalkrishnan and former Union Finance
Secretary S P Shukla as members among others.
"The people of Jaitapur and the surrounding areas in
Ratnagiri district have been struggling against the setting up
of the giant nuclear project which will have six nuclear
reactors bought from the French Areva company.
"This project has displaced farmers and mango orchards.
The livelihood of thousands of fishermen are threatened," the
CPI(M) said in a statement.
"There is a serious threat to ecology and environment of
the region. The Areva EPR reactors have not been commissioned
anywhere in the world, not even in France. They are
prohibitively expensive and the technology is untried and
untested," it said.
After the Fukushima disaster in Japan, it alleged, there
are "serious concerns" about the safety and the health of the
people in the region.
The popular protests in Ratnagiri district have been met
with severe police repression and permanent restrictions on
holding protests and false cases have been instituted on many
activists, it alleged.
To extend support to the people`s struggle in Jaitapur
and to mobilise support all over the country to demand a halt
to the Jaitapur project, the statement said, it has been
decided to set-up a national committee.
The committee will organise a country-wide campaign
against the Jaitapur nuclear project.
The other members of the committee include LJP chief
Ramvilas Paswan, Sitaram Yechury of CPI(M), D. Raja and
Prakash Reddy of CPI, Nama Nageswara Rao of TDP, Danish Ali of
JD(S), Vivek Monteiro of CITU, N D Patil of Peasants and
Workers Party, Bhai Vaidya of Socialist Party (India), Pravin
Gavankar of Janhit Seva Samiti, and Sulabha Brahme of Konkan
Bachao Samiti.
PTI
