Anti-nuke activists plan rally in Dharavi to get support of Kudankulam migrants

In a bid to garner support against nuclear power plants across India, anti-nuclear activists have decided to rope in people who have migrated to Mumbai from states where nuclear plants are being built.

In a bid to garner support against nuclear power plants across India, anti-nuclear activists have decided to rope in people who have migrated to Mumbai from states where nuclear plants are being built.

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Currently, while work on two reactors at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu has restarted, initial tests are being conducted at the site of the proposed Jaitapur plant in Ratnagiri. A protest rally has been organised at Dharavi on April 26, which is the 26th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that took place in Ukraine in 1986. Rallies will also be carried out in Raigad, Solapur and Jalna.

“There is a large pocket of Tamil-speaking people in Dharavi who have migrated from areas close to Kudankulam and Kanyakumari. In light of the crackdown that has begun on protestors in Kudankulam, we decided to hold a rally in Dharavi to sensitise people about what’s happening on ground,” said Adwait Pednekar of the Konkan Bachao Samiti.

For instance, the proposed Jaitapur plant will house six European pressurised reactors poised to generate 9,900 megawatt electricity. “After the Fukushima nuclear accident, we also want an independent committee of experts to address issues of spent fuel storage and radiation hazard. Till these issues are scientifically addressed and debated, nuclear projects must be put on hold,” said Pednekar.