The Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) has proposed building two 1,650-MW plants at the site, about 300 km south of Mumbai, and aims to expand the project into a nuclear power park producing 10,000 MW.

It is the first new site chosen to build civilian nuclear plants with foreign collaboration after the landmark deal was signed between New Delhi and Washington. NPCIL has contracted France’s Areva for the reactors, each estimated to cost between $5.2 and 7.8 billion.

Some villagers in the hamlets around Jaitapur in Ratnagiri district have, however, been opposed to the project saying that the radiation from the plant would cause health problems and hurt future generations and also hit livelihood.

The Bombay High Court stay order came in the last week of June, in response to a petition by Dr Bhikaji Waghdhare, who hails from Madban village in the area, and four others. The petition contends that the nuclear plant would harm the sensitive Konkan ecology and could also result in accidents as the area falls under seismic zone 4. The court has asked NPCIL to file an affidavit and set the next hearing for July 10.

The Maharashtra government gave its nod to the project in 2006 and an "emergency" land acquisition process was set in motion in the five villages of Madban, Niveli, Karel, Mithgavane and Varliwada.

The project needs 968 hectares of land in these five villages which have a total population of 4,000. There are 2,800 land owners and according to the state government's own initial deadline, this process had to be completed within two years of its launch in 2006/07.

"This is the first stay issued by the HC and may continue till further hearings. The authorities will have to maintain status quo and cannot go ahead with acquisition as of now," said Mahesh Londe, lawyer for the petitioners.

The land acquisition process has been running behind schedule as villagers launched a campaign last year to oppose the project and organised exhibitions about what they say is the damage caused by nuclear plants, held street rallies and door-to-door campaigns.

The state government's land acquisition officer, Mahesh Deshmukh, admitted that there was a delay and said the land could now be acquired until August 2010. "We have carried out the land survey and its valuation and have fixed the rate at which people will be compensated. We were in process of serving notices and begin acquisition, however due to the stay we will have to wait," he said.

Ranjeet Raj Kakde, Chief Public Information Officer at NPCIL, is confident that the court stay will not be a major obstacle to the project. "It's a priority project and an important one for the Central government and we will give our replies explaining that the site is not in a seismic zone and will not affect the environment," he told The Indian Express.