Thane: Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Ram Naik on Saturday said he would continue to fight for proper rehabilitation of people affected by Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) near Thane.
The ex-Oil Minister said the rehabilitation policy had not been fully implemented yet and he had been fighting a legal battle for the same.
He was speaking at a function organised to release his book which traces the journey of starting local trains from Churchgate to Dahanu, which became a reality in April.
Local train services on the 124-km Dahanu-Churchgate route were inaugurated on April 16. Earlier the services were available only till Virar and suburban passengers beyond that had to take outstation trains or diesel-run shuttle trains.
The Mumbai suburban section of the Western Railway was extended from Virar to Dahanu in 1998 when Naik was Railway Minister.
At the function, Naik said he had three tasks pending before him for which he would continue fighting. These tasks were subsidy in diesel to fishermen, compensation to fishermen on the lines of farmers and total rehabilitation of villagers affected by TAPS.
The power project was completed before the scheduled time and this resulted in saving of Rs 400 crore. Early power generation added another Rs 400 crore to it, he said.
The original cost of the project was Rs 6,500 crore while the Government had spend only Rs 6,100 crore, thus saving Rs 400 crore, the former Member of Parliament said.
This sum should be spent on the rehabilitation process. But the Government has so far spent only Rs 86 crore on rehabilitation, Naik claimed.
PTI
