Jaitapur project: Sena sends 'adverse impact' report to PM

The Shiv Sena has submitted a 418-page report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 'adverse impact' the Jaitapur nuclear power project in Ratnagiri will have on Maharashtra's coastal Konkan region, a minister said on Wednesday.

The report comes after party parliamentarians met Modi in New Delhi to convey their apprehensions over the 9,900-MW plant, state Environment Minister and Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam said.

"The report includes objections of various organisations like Konkan Bachao Samiti, Madhavrao Gadgil Committee report, public hearings by B.J. Waghmare Janhit Samiti and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board," he said.

The report details how the project will "adversely impact" the sensitive Konkan region and the marine life in its surroundings, hitting farmers and fisherfolk alike.

After the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March 2011, the whole world is re-thinking about the use of nuclear power and exploring options like solar and other renewable sources, he said.

Quoting the National Institute of Oceanography, Kadam said six species of mangroves and 24 species of marine seaweeds will be destroyed due to effluents discharged in the Arabian Sea from the power project.

He said the Sena will not permit the BJP-led governments at the Centre and state to go ahead with the project.

"We are not against development, but it should not be at the cost of the environment," the minister said.

The Jaitapur project, being executed by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. in collaboration with Areva S.A. France, will have six plants of 1,650-MW capacity each, making it the biggest in the world in terms of net electrical power ratings.

Recently, its five-year environmental clearance lapsed on November 26 and was not extended.

Though NPCIL officials said extension of the environmental clearance was expected soon, those opposed claimed there was no provision in law to grant extension after a clearance lapsed.