New Delhi: Suggesting that there could be
a conspiracy behind the anti-nuclear power project agitation
in Jaitapur, Congress on Tuesday cautioned people against "attempts
by forces inimical to India's economic growth".
The party at the same expressed deep regret over the
killing of one person allegedly in police firing at Sakhrinate
village when around 600-700 locals protesting against the
project, attacked the local police station.
"The death of a person in police firing or otherwise
is always regrettable and no party sensitive towards peoples's
aspirations will ever condone it. But what has to be seen is
whether the agitation was based on some real concerns or
completely imaginery concerns are being stoked by vested
interests," party spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters
here.
His reaction came on a day, when the opposition's
bandh in coastal Ratnagiri district to condemn police firing
on anti-nuclear power project demonstrators in Jaitapur turned
violent with a mob ransacking a district hospital and torching
buses.
Noting that India's energy requirments are going to
rise manifold in the near future and nuclear energy may also
have a role to fill this deficit, Tewari said, "It is also
important for all stakeholders to isolate forces, which are,
whether for poltical or other extraneous reasons, stoking
imaginary concerns."
Wondering "Whether those powers who want to stop
India's economic growth are not behind such agitations," he
alleged that "similar forces were opposing hydro power
projects of the country during the 1980s and 1990s."
The Congress spokesperson at the same time stressed he
did not believe in conspiracy theories.
Tavrez Sejkar was yesterday killed in police firing at
Sakhrinate village when around 600-700 locals protesting
against the project, attacked the local police station.
The project with six nuclear reactors with a capacity
of 1,600 MW each would be one of the largest N-power projects
in the world.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, April 19, 2011, 22:10