Pictures courtesy: Fakir Mohammad Solkar

Report: The Hindu

A week after the gram sabhas of villages surrounding project site of proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) passed resolution against the project, the fishermen in area have decided to hold a ‘sea rally’.

On Friday, fishermen from Sakhari Natye, Natye, Tulsunde and Sagve villages will start their protest in the sea that surrounds the project site. The protesters have said that they will form a circle around the site in the sea with slogans against the project.

Though this is first ‘sea protest’ by fishermen against JNPP, a similar agitation was carried in 2012 by fishermen against the commissioning of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant.

“We fishermen too are going to suffer because of this project. We want to send a clear message to the government that we will not let the project happen. We have arranged this ‘sea rally’ as a mark of protest,” said Mansoor Solkar, a fisherman from Sakhri Natye village. He said that the protest is largely arranged to send a message to the government which thinks that the project has no opposition on ground.

The fishermen said that they want to highlight the destruction of sea water ecology due to this project.

Earlier last week, gram sabhas of Madban and Mithgavhane had passed a resolution against the project. The resolutions said that the villagers had accepted compensation packages from the government since they were left with no other option. “Accepting compensation package from the government does not mean we have agreed to the nuclear power project in our backyard,” said the resolutions.

The strong reactions of villagers come after recent statements by various leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who said that the JNPP will go ahead at any cost.