Jaitapur nuclear plant just needs a pause, says Ramesh
Anshu Seth
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 23
"Public concern over the Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra is genuine following the post-tsunami devastation in Japan,” said Union Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh.

He was in Ludhiana today to inaugurate the country's first “In-Situ Sewage Treatment with Bioremediation” project in Budha Nullah, the drain that passes from the city and merges in the Sutlej in Wallipur village, 20 km from Ludhiana.

“We cannot abandon the project, but I am neither advocating reversal nor do I favour the acceleration of the project as the need of the hour is to pause till the government formulates a transparent nuclear policy. I have conveyed my concern to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh," said Ramesh.

Referring to the mobilisation of persons by the Shiv Sena against the planned six-reactor 9,900 MW nuclear power project in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra in which a protester was shot dead by the police, the Union Environment Minister said, “There is no need to use violence and bullets as there is nothing which cannot be solved with deliberations across the table."

The Union minister stated that the nuclear policy should be formulated after taking the people of India into confidence. He said that he had already spoken to the Dr Manmohan Singh and AICC president Sonia Gandhi in this regard.

The minister was interacting with mediapersons after the inauguration of the bioremediation project.

Later, on the recent controversy over his objection to the Planning Commission's goal to add 100,000 MW to India’s power generation capacity during the 12th Plan period (2012-17), Jairam Ramesh said that he had worked as power minister for more than two decades and knew about the implications of generating power on such a massive scale.

"We need to work out a strategy. We cannot solely depend upon coal as it would lead to the cutting of forests and also add to pollution," the minister said.