BJP reiterates support for Jaitapur nuclear power plant, despite Sena objections

Maharashtra Power Minister Chandrashekhar Bavankule said the state government had not issued any "work stop" order

Notwithstanding the opposition of its junior partner Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said the 9,900-Mw nuclear power project at Jaitapur in the coastal Ratnagiri district will go ahead as planned. It said the project will be developed by the Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) and that the work at the project site is currently underway.

Maharashtra power minister Chandrashekhar Bavankule also said the state government has not issued any “work stop” order and that there has not been any opposition in the state Cabinet to the project.

Bavankule's statement in the state legislature on Tuesday further isolated the Shiv Sena, which continues to oppose the project despite joining the government on December 5. Incidentally, the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, which were in power for the past 15 years, support the project.

State environment minister and Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam had recently highlighted his party's opposition to the Jaitapur nuclear project. During his recent visit to the Konkan region after the Assembly poll results were announced, Shiv Sena president Uddahv Thackeray had insisted that the Centre shift the proposed nuclear project elsewhere and announced that his party was opposed to the project which might have a disastrous effect in the Konkan region.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and a couple of BJP leaders have already made a strong case for nuclear power and hinted that the Jaitapur power project will be developed.

The government has already earmarked 2,000 hectares for Jaitapur, of which 938 hectares had been acquired in 2010. The land has been transferred to NPC. Bavakule said there has not been a single instance of displacement. According to the understanding reached between the state government and NPC, a compensation of Rs 22.50 lakh per hectare will be provided to project-affected persons (PAPs).

Of the total 2,335 PAPs, 1,721 have collected compensation money worth Rs 185.79 crore. NPC had already deposited a total of Rs 211.05 crore with the Ratnagiri district collector for the payment of compensation.

AREVA's chief commercial executive officer Tarik Choho had in a recent interview to Business Standard said the construction times and commissioning dates are country-specific as they depend on a number of factors such as the availability of resources, the level of localisation, the reactor site to be built, and the approval process of the domestic safety authority, among others. Initially, AREVA is supposed to supply two evolutionary pressurised reactors of 1,650 Mw each to NPC for the Jaitapur project.

According to Choho, discussions with NPC are progressing well, and AREVA expects to reach an agreement on the technical aspects of the project in 2015.