Farmers to move NGT over public hearing on NPCIL plant in Guj

Farmers opposing the proposed atomic power station of NPCIL in coastal village of Mithi Virdi in Gujarat today said they would move National Green Tribunal (NGT) against the recently held environmental public hearing.
Farmers and local villagers of over 24 villages are opposing the atomic power plant in Bhavnagar district, likely to come up on 777 hectares of cultivable land.
A public hearing for the plant was conducted by the district administration on March 5, which was reportedly boycotted by over 4,500 villagers of 29 villages amid allegation that they were not allowed to speak.
They alleged that procedural formalities for the hearing were overlooked by the administration nor court orders on basic procedural norms were followed and their representative was not allowed to speak at the venue.

"The hearing conducted on March 5 was like a terror camp, heavily guarded by the police. Our representative was not allowed to speak there. We are left with no option but to move NGT against it," Rohit Prajapati of NGO Paryavaran Surakhsa Samiti (PSS) said.
The farmers, led by PSS as well as others leaders have been opposing the project saying it was on fertile land, jeopardising their livelihood.

"NPCIL, got the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report prepared by an agency for the plant which is not accredited by MoEF, therefore the hearing on it was illegal," Shaktisinh Gohil, sarpanch of Jaspara panchayat, said.

Jaspara is among the four villages, others being Mithi Virdi, Mandva and Khadanpar whose farming land is proposed to be acquired for the nuclear plant.
"The hearing was organised to listen to the concerns of locals, but we were not given an opportunity to speak," Gohil said and questioned the necessity to set up a nuclear power plant in Gujarat, which is already a power-surplus state.
In a letter written to Minister of State for Environment and Forests, PSS has claimed that the project consultant, Engineers India Limited, was not accredited to prepare EIA report for the nuclear power plants, as it was not accredited by the MoEF.

The district administration will soon be submitting its report to MoEF, and a copy of the minutes of the meeting are also likely to be uploaded on Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) website, a PSS member, said.