Farmers in Haryana have stepped up their campaign against the setting up of the Gorakhpur Nuclear Power Plant in the Fatehabad district of the state.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has earmarked over 628 hectares of land to set up a 2,800-MW power plant which will use pressurised heavy water reactors at a cost of `13,000 crores. The villages earmarked for site selection include Gorakhpur, Kumaharia and Kajalhedi.
Parmanu Urja Virodhi Morcha president Rajendar Sharma warned, “We have been holding a sit-in protest outside the Fatehabad mini-secretariat. We now plan to join hands with protesters fighting against the setting up of a nuclear plant in Jaitapur and those protesting in Koodankulam.”
Farmers are incensed that three elderly protesting farmers have already lost their lives in this agitation which has now completed over 580 days.
What has upset the farmers is that the land being acquired is irrigated, multi-crop land whereas the new government provisions dictate that irrigated, multi-crop land should comprise only five per cent of the acquisition.
Activist Dr Vandana Shiva said, “Two elderly farmers lost their lives because they were part of the sit-in during the winter months. But the third farmer, Ishwar Singh, who was 62 years of age died last week. He was part of the protest and despite being rushed to the Rohtak Medical Care Centre did not survive.”
Mr Sharma, along with other farmers, are demanding that the NPCIL move the project to some less fertile part of Haryana. The farmers have also filed a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana high court following which notices were issued to the Department of Atomic Energy, ministry of environment and forests and the NPCIL with several farmers insisting they will not allow measurement of their land to take place by any governmental agency.
NPCIL officials are keen to initiate a dialogue with the agitating farmers in order that their protest does not acquire greater momentum.