Centre gives its nod to nuclear power plant at Haripur

Asked about the Trinamool opposition to the plant,Ramesh said: “I have not heard about this agitation,but my ministry has given clearance for the project.”’

During his recent visit to Russia,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had signed an agreement with the Russian government for collaboration on setting up five nuclear plants in the country,including the one in Haripur.

On Monday,at a function at the Saha Institute of Physics in Kolkata,Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Srikumar Bandopadhyay had said there will be no problem if the nuclear plant is set up as all precautionary measures will be taken.

But the Trinamool Congress maintains it will oppose the plant at any cost.

“We will resist the setting up of this plant tooth and nail,” Shubhendu Adhikary,Trinamool Congress MP from Tamluk,who had already raised the issue in Parliament,had said on Tuesday. “The livelihood of a lot of people — including farmers and fishermen — will be disrupted if the plant is set up here. The place is densely populated,a lot of people will have to be evicted and the plant will also destroy ecological balance.”

He said his party had set up a resistance committee to launch an agitation against the project.