Showing the way out of yet another potentially explosive situation, environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Saturday advocated “pausing” all further progress on Maharashtra’s Jaitapur nuclear power project to give the government time to formulate a transparent nuclear energy policy.
In Ludhiana to initiate a bio-remediation venture to reclaim one of north India’s most polluted waterways, the Budha Nallah, the minister acknowledged growing public concerns over indigenous nuclear safety in wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster, suggesting that the Jaitapur protect be put “on hold” until such concerns are addressed.
Clarifying, however, that he was in no way in favour of abandoning the very first project after the India-US nuclear deal, Mr Ramesh said, “We cannot abandon the project. I am neither pleading for its reversal or fast progression as a pause is the best option till a transparent nuclear policy is formulated.”
“We should not have any secret atomic policy,” the minister said, adding he had communicated his position to both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Mr Ramesh was plainly critical of the Maharashtra police’s use of unnecessary force to quell public protests against the Jaitapur project.