Shiv Sena: Nuclear plant in Jaitapur will be scrapped

Raking up the Jaitapur nuclear plant issue, Shiv Sena leader and minister for industries Subhash Desai said that the controversial project would soon be completely scrapped.

Mr Desai told select journalists that nothing would happen as far as the Jaitapur nuclear project was concerned and the plant would finally be shut down. “Sena has a clear stand on issues like the Jaitapur nuclear project and opposing Pakistanis performing in India,” he said, and without naming the BJP, added, “If others do not have a firm ideology on any issue, they could take a definite stand.” Welcoming the protest this morning by more than 100 Shiv Sainiks of Pakistan Cricket Club’s chief’s meeting at Wankhede

Stadium in the city, the minister said the Sena’s ideological stand against Pakistan was not new however others took time to understand it.

Toeing the Sena line on Jaitapur, Mr Desai said, “The local people are also opposing the Jaitapur nuclear project; not only the Sena. If we oppose the project without support from the local people, you can blame us for politicising the issue. The day will come when the state will scrap it.”

Mr Desai said that at the time of setting up the Tarapur nuclear project in Thane district, fishermen were assured they would not be affected. Later vide a circular an area of 10km radius from the project was restricted for fishermen. It was possible the same thing could be repeated at Jaitapur. If such restrictions were imposed, fishermen from Sakhri-Nate port would be badly affected and would lose their livelihood.

He claimed that there was no work in progress within the boundary wall of the Jaitapur project. Though a few project-affected families had accepted compensation, they were those who had left the village long ago and their land remained unused.

Referring to the land acquisition bill, Mr Desai explained how the Narendra Modi government had finally accepted five of their suggestions. “If the BJP had listened to us when we protested for the first time, it would not have got so much humiliation from political parties. Actually, there was no need to accept the responsibility of ‘Congress’ baby (read the land acquisition bill). Instead we could have targeted Congress on the same issue,” said Mr Desai.

Reacting to the Sena stand on Jaitapur, BJP leader and Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse said, “They (Sena) should not waste their time in opposing development projects. On one hand, they are protesting load shedding and on the other, they are opposing the power generation plant. They should think where to stop.”