Nuclear Plants in Western Region of India i

KBS irked with land acquisition for power projects in Konkan

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PUNE: Sulbha Brahme, senior social activist on Friday criticised the Union and state governments for ignoring the villagers' welfare by pushing
the atomic and thermal power projects in Konkan. Addressing a press conferene here, Brahme maintained that the Konkan Bachao Samiti (KBS) is going to continue with its agitation against the state government's land acquisition.

According to the documents shared by the Samiti, the government has planned to set up power plants in Shahapur (dist. Raigad), Dhopave, Bhopan, Jaigad and Ranpar (all in dist. Ratnagiri), Munge and Dhakore (dist. Sindhudurga). "Soon after the code of conduct was revoked, government officials started the work of acquiring more land in these villages," she said.

"The combined power generation capacity of these projects is said to be around 18,100 Mega-Watts. Generating this much energy will need huge amounts of coal, uranium and other hazardous materials that would contaminate the land, air and water in these areas," Brahme said. As per the figures released by the government in 2008, the state has the capacity to generate 17,500 MW of power, whereas the electricity generated is only 13,575 MW, she said.

The existing thermal power projects at Parali, Paras, Khaparkheda, Bhusaval and Chandrapur are yet to be utilised to their optimum capacity. Electricity leakage should be checked to meet the state's power needs better, Brahme said.

"Villagers have clarified that they do not want to give their land for these projects. Nobody has assured us of the safety of these projects, especially nuclear energy generation plants. They may harm the life and environment in the region. As these project need highly-skilled manpower, it is unlikely that these projects will generate significant employment in rural areas. Konkan is known for its alphonso mangoes, rice, fishery industry and rich natural resources. All these would be adversely affected if such power projects are introduced," she said.

"It must be observed that though countries like US and Germany are not very keen on promoting nuclear energy, the companies based in these countries are selling equipment and technology to the Indian government for setting up atomic and thermal power projects here. It could thus be said that Indian politicians are more interested in doing business than solving the problem of electricity shortage in the country. Irrespective of the guidelines that the government's sets for conducting public hearing before launching such projects; its officials approach villagers and try to convince them to accept the monetary compensation for their land," she said.