Bandh over Jaitapur turns violent

Ramesh rebuts Sena allegations, says it’s for state govt, NPCIL to handle situation.

The killing of a 30-year-old man in police firing on a protest demonstration yesterday against the proposed 10,000-Mw Jaitapur nuclear power project rocked the proceedings of the state’s legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

The Opposition Shiv Sena-BJP strongly condemned the incident, while the state government has ordered a magistrate’s inquiry. Home minister R R Patil told the House the probe would also probe the politics behind the protest, led by the Shiv Sena. The crowd allegedly attacked the local police station and set it on fire. This led to police firing in which Tarbez Abdullah Terkar was killed. The leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Eknath Khadse, demanded a judicial probe into what happened. Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray said the state government would have to pay a “heavy price” for police firing.

A bandh organised by the Shiv Sena in the affected region turned violent, with the ransacking of a district hospital in Ratnagiri and the torching of buses. Clashes were also reported between the police and the mob in Ratnagiri.

“We will not stop these protests or take custody of the dead body or allow his post mortem examination till (Maharashtra Chief Minister) Prithviraj Chauhan brings the Jaitapur project to a halt. The government should take note of the Fukushima incident in Japan,” said a Shiv Sena leader.

A group of 300 Shiv Sainiks also blocked the Mumbai-Goa highway near Lanja on Tuesday. Shops and markets in Ratnagiri are closed.

Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said his ministry should not be blamed for the law and order situation in Jaitapur.

On the police firing and death, Ramesh said what had happened there was “most depressing” but the situation has to be brought under control by the state government.

“The ministry of environment and forests does not enter into the picture,” he said. “It is for the state government and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd to improve the public confidence and trust and address the compensation issues. It is unfair to blame the ministry.”

The minister said their clearance for the Jaitapur project was given in November last year and the ministry had “nothing to do with” land acquisition, compensation, the economics of nuclear power and nuclear safety.

“Those were not issues that the MoEF is either competent to deal with or it is mandated to deal with. One should understand this fact,” he said.

Ramesh also accused the Shiv Sena of “politicising” the Jaitapur issue and frequently changing its stand regarding him. “This is the same Shiv Sena, which had vowed to throw the Enron Project into the Arabian Sea in 1993. But when they came to power in 1995, they went out of their way to give approval,” the minister said, reacting to a question on Shiv Sena’s allegations against him.

Ramesh said the Sena had lauded him for his stand on the Navi Mumbai airport and Lavasa housing project and “made me a hero” but now the party has “made a khalnayak” in the Jaitapur episode. “Consistency does not seem to be a virtue in the Shiv Sena,” he said.