Nuclear Power Corporation's proposed project in Gujarat hits hurdle

The narrow, bumpy roads leading to Jasapara and Mithi Virdi villages in Gujarat’s Saurashtra region are being closely guarded by farmers.

The villagers are constantly checking every passing car and are on the lookout for central government officials who often come to survey the proposed nuclear power plant on their agricultural land.f this was not enough to make the message loud and clear to the Union government that the farmers are not willing to give up their land for a nuclear plant in their area, the farmers have also painted slogans on the walls of their houses, warning the government not to play “dirty games” with their lands.

The farmers of the four villages — Jasapara, Mithi Virdi, Mandwa and Khadarpara — say they check all the vehicles seen around the villages because the surveyors of the Union government, who used to come earlier, never revealed the purpose of their visit. After a series of meetings with the heads of nearby villages, the farmers have unanimously decided not to allow any surveyor in the area.

State-run Nuclear Power Corporation proposes to set up the plant.

Using white and blue colours, the students of the village school have painted ‘Dirty games won’t work, plant of death won’t work’. The recent nuclear crisis in Japan’s Fukushima plant following a devastating earthquake and tsunami has added to the problems for the government as the villagers have started comparing it with the 2001 Gujarat earthquake when several villages were destroyed.

“Earlier we were only scared for our land but now we are also scared for our lives. Everyone has to die one day but we won’t allow the nuclear power plant which will threaten the lives of our children for several years. Each one of us has seen on television what happened in Japan,” said Shaktisinh Gohil, the head of the Jasapara village, which will lose land for the project.

The four villages, which may lose 777 hectares of land for the power plant, have over 8,000 hectares of agricultural land.

“There is so much greenery in this part of Gujarat that it is often called the Kashmir of the state. Why can’t the government take non-agricultural land? Why does it want our agricultural land?” asks Gohil.

Although central government officials have invited the villagers to talk about the proposed plant in their area, the farmers of Jasapara, Mithi Virdi, Mandwa and Khadarpara villages have boycotted the meetings thrice.

“We might eat dal and bajre ki roti in our homes but we are not fools. What is the guarantee there would not be a repeat of the 2001 earthquake in Bhuj? We still have cracks on walls because of the impact of the earthquake. We have decided that we will neither allow any such nuclear power plant in the entire Saurashtra region nor anywhere else in Gujarat,” said Bhupendre Singh, the Son of Mandwa village.