Jaitapur: The town of Jaitapur remains tense as protests against the proposed 9,900 MW proposed nuclear plant turned into a political free-for-all on Tuesday. There is anger against the police and Maharashtra government, through there have been no fresh cases of violence since Tuesday afternoon.
Shiv Sena's Rajapur MLA Rajan Salvi has been sent to police custody for rioting which has raised fears of more protests.
Maharashtra Industry Minister Narayan Rane on Tuesday blamed the Shiv Sena for instigating people at Jaitapur against the proposed nuclear power plant.
"This was Sena's attempt to gain political mileage. We have records of meetings taken by local legislators in the villages and a meeting held at Sena Bhavan to call a bandh in Jaitapur after which the people protested," Rane informed the Legislative Council in Mumbai.
The Opposition Sena-BJP members had moved an adjournment motion to discuss the issue of Jaitapur keeping aside all the business.
"A similar protest took place before the Enron power plant was set up in Konkan. But the people who opposed the project later turned into contractors," Rane said.
He also warned the agitators that Konkan may not get new development projects in future if the nuclear power plant is withdrawn.
Stressing on the dire need for power, Home Minister RR Patil said that all the political parties have been protesting against power crunch in the state.
"There is shortage of 4,500 MW power in the state and the opposition should not make it an emotional issue," Patil said.
Expressing unhappiness over the death of one of the agitators at Jaitapur yesterday, he said the police did not open fire immediately.
"Police were attacked by the mob and had to impose lathicharge but the agitators continued with their violent protest. Police used tear gas and plastic bullets but the crowd was not controlled," he said.
"The police then fired 25 rounds of which 21 were fired in air. Three bullets injured people on legs and one person was killed as the bullet hit his stomach," Patil said adding that the situation in which police opened fire must be considered.
Sena MLC Ramdas Kadam accused the government of trying to suppress the agitation and said it is destroying Konkan region by proposing various projects.
Congress MLC Bhai Jagtap said the incident which killed one was sad but one has to think more about security measures while setting up the project.
PWP MLC Jayant Patil asked why the government went ahead with the project without convincing the locals.
Ridiculing Sena's efforts to oppose the project, NCP MLC Kiran Pawaskar read out a message from social networking site twitter saying that "Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray has gone to the Kanha national park for a tour after instigating locals at Jaitapur."
The Shiv Sena-led agitation took an ugly turn on Monday when a mob allegedly torched a police station, buses and ransacked a district hospital. Police retaliated by resorting to lathicharge and fired to disperse protestors. One protester, a 30-year-old Tavrez Sejkar, was killed in the police firing leading to more violence on Tuesday.
The state government has already ordered a magisterial enquiry into the violence at Jaitapur.
Comments
0 comment