People's Democracy(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
Vol. XXXVII
No. 02 January 13, 2013 |
JAITAPUR,
Jail
Bharo at Nuclear Power Project
Site THE
year 2013 began with a massive satyagraha and Jail Bharo held at the
Jaitapur nuclear power project
site on January 2, 2013. The Jail Bharo was preceded by
a seven kilometres long
march from Sakhri Nate village to the Madban plateau in
which several thousand
residents participated. The march was led by Amjad
Borkar and Mansoor Solkar. A
notable feature was the participation of more than 1000
women as well as a large
number of youth and students. The march was joined at
the Jaitapur bridge by
local MLA, Rajan Salvi, and Prakash Waghdare, the
sarpanch of Madban gram
panchayat. Narvekar
and Sarfoo Kazi of
the Jan Hit Seva Samiti joined the march at the Madban
plateau. On
behalf of the Maharashtra CITU, Vivek Monteiro, P M
Vartak, Mahbood Ali,
Sailesh Bhatkar, committee members of the Dabhol Veej
Prakalp Kamgaar Sangh,
Bharat Bhuvad, Shashikant Mahadik, Rajan Toraskar,
Sampath Shinde and Ayre
participated in the long march and the Jail Bharo. Prakash
Reddy and Advocate Prashant Haldankar from the CPI, and
Madhu Mohite from the
RPI also participated in the march and satyagraha. Prohibitory
order under Section 144 having been declared in the
area, a large contingent of
policemen blocked the rally after it reached the Madban
plateau. The rallyists
were then addressed by the leaders of various
organisations and parties in a
mass meeting. Addressing
the rally on behalf of the CPIndia (M) and CITU, Vivek
Monteiro began by paying
homage to the martyrs Irfan Kazi and Tabrez Sayekar. He
stated that their
sacrifice would not go in vain. He said the Several
new reasons have come up to oppose the project. The CITU
made an RTI
application in which it has been revealed that the
Atomic Energy Regulatory
Board has not yet granted a site clearance to the
project. The CITU’s RTI
application to the Ministry of Environment and Forests
has revealed that the
conditions on which the partial clearance were given
have not been complied
with. The government’s own Gadgil committee on the He
congratulated the fisherpeople and the farmers of
Ratnagiri for coming together,
keeping aside all differences of caste and creed, to
oppose the project. They
have been joined today by the representatives of the
workers and trade unions.
This worker peasant unity is the foundation of a
resolute struggle which will
continue until the project is scrapped. He
stated that the decision to bring Areva to Madban was
taken at the same time as
the decision to bring Walmart into The
Left parties have consistently been fighting these
issues from the outset both
within and outside parliament. When Prakash Karat and D
Raja visited Ratnagiri
district in 2011 they emphasised that this struggle is
not only a struggle of
Ratnagiri, but of the whole of Maharashtra and After
the meeting more than 2000 persons peacefully courted
arrest. They were
transported in ST buses to the Nate Police station, from
where they were later
released.