[Reader-list] Parties against nuclear plant in Haryana

[asit das]

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/article3255992.ece


Parties against nuclear plant in HaryanaRAJESH AHUJA

Opposition parties in Haryana have once again criticised the move to set up
a nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur village in Fatehabad district of Haryana
and extended support to the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti which has been
spearheading the agitation for over 20 months.

State CPI (M) secretary Inderjit Singh told *The Hindu* that the Congress
regime led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda has become “insensitive'' as it is
going ahead with the “process of land acquisition despite resistance from
farmers and safety concerns expressed by the residents of adjoining
villages.''

He asserted that the concerns voiced by the people had “credibility and
genuineness'' in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster a year ago.

The State and the Central governments should put the proposal on hold and
give serious consideration to the opinions of experts who have openly
favoured non-nuclear power as a better option, he said, adding that the
CPI(M) would participate in the protest being held in Fatehabad on March 30.

The proposed plant is to come up on 1,313 acres of land spanning Gorakhpur,
Kajalheri and Badopal villages in Fatehabad district.

Adopting a strident stand, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) secretary-general
and MLA Ajay Singh Chautala warned that the powers that be would not be
allowed to set up the proposed nuclear plant and INLD workers were even
prepared to “face bullets in this endeavour''.

However, Hisar MP and Haryana Janhit Congress chief Kuldip Bishnoi while
accusing the INLD of merely shedding “crocodile tears in a bid to extract
political mileage'' claimed that he and his late father former Chief
Minister Bhajan Lal had vociferously opposed the setting up of the nuclear
plant.

“My father and I physically participated in the ongoing dharna and raised
our voices in the Haryana Assembly and the Lok Sabha even though the INLD,
with 30 members in the Vidhan Sabha, never raised the issue,'' he claimed.

Mr. Bishnoi reiterated that the Government should scrap the project and in
a lighter mood asked why Mr. Hooda did not shift it to his home
constituency of Kiloi to ensure further “development'' of the Rohtak belt.

Former Haryana Finance Minister Sampat Singh and Nalwa MLA, who after a
long stint with the Devi Lal clan joined the Congress a couple of years
ago, however, gave yet another “perspective'' to the issue.

He recently revealed that “public posturing apart'', several political
stalwarts, be it the late Bhajan Lal or the late Deputy Prime Minister Devi
Lal, had pleaded with the Centre during their respective tenures as Chief
Ministers for setting up of a nuclear plant in the State to meet the
“perennial power crisis''.

Mr. Sampat Singh, a former Power Minister, asserted that setting up of the
nuclear plant was in the best interests of not only Haryana but even
neighbouring states like Punjab and Rajasthan.

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