Tribals and villagers in 575 villages in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla district are up in arms against the proposed nuclear power plant at Chutka.
Protesters will hold a series of rallies and protests till the first week of December to oppose the project, which they say could endanger the lives of the people in case of a mishap or a radiation leak. (HT PHOTO)
On Monday, Gandhi Jayanti, the protesters, under the aegis of Chutka Parmanu Sangarsh Samiti (CPSS), held a rally in one of the villages.
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CPSS will hold a series of rallies and protests till the first week of December to oppose the project, which they say could endanger the lives of the people in case of a mishap or a radiation leak.
In 2015, the state cabinet had approved allotment of 41 acres of land for the Chutka project. The 1,400 MW project is being set up by Nuclear Power Corporation of India in collaboration with the Madhya Pradesh Power Generation Company.
About 400-600 families will be displaced by the project. In July this year, tribals refused to allow drilling for soil samples for the proposed nuclear power plant.
CPSS secretary Navrattan Dubey told HT said tribals in 575 villages were against the project. The protesters are mostly tribals from villages within 30 km perimeter of the nuclear power plant in Mandla, Jabalpur and Seoni districts.
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“We are starting series of protest rallies from today in the 500-plus villages in the three districts. The rallies will continue till December,” he said.
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“We are starting series of protest rallies from today in the 500-plus villages in the three districts. The rallies will continue till December,” he said.
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Dubey said people of the four villages in Mandla district, predominantly tribals, have been protesting against the project since it was cleared by Centre in 2009.
“Most of the project-affected people are displaced by the Bargi Dam in 1984,” he said, adding that the gram sabhas of three of the four affected villages have given consent for the project.
“...the gram sabha of Kunda village has not given its approval. The government has also provided Rs 6 lakh compensation per family to nearly 600 families. The state government wants to rehabilitate us at Potla, 17-18 km from Chutka,” he said.
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.
