Cancel the Gorakhpur nuclear power project!

On July 26, 2011, the people of Fatehabad town in Haryana as well as peasants from 80 villages and various mass organisations organised a protest demonstration demanding the cancellation of the Gorakhpur nuclear power project.

On July 26, 2011, the people of Fatehabad town in Haryana as well as peasants from 80 villages and various mass organisations organised a protest demonstration demanding the cancellation of the Gorakhpur nuclear power project.

It must be noted that a year ago, the panchayats of 36 villages in and around the project area have passed a resolution against the proposed project. Under the banner of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, people have been sitting on dharna at the Mini Secretariat in Fatehabad for 346 days.

Addressing the demonstration, the leader of the Lok Raj Sangathan in Haryana, Dhuni Chand, demanded an immediate stop to forcible land acquisition and a permanent solution to the problem. He pointed out that the farmers today are forced to take the path of struggle to defend their right to livelihood. In the present conditions, the rulers are forcibly depriving the farmers of their principal source of livelihood, their land, just to satisfy the insatiable greed of the capitalist class. This forcible land acquisition is being done under a black law which was promulgated by the British colonialists in 1894 to justify the forcible acquisition of the land of our people.

He declared that the present political and economic system serves only the interests of the capitalist class. In this system, a small minority of the population rules over the vast majority of workers and peasants. We must unite and fight for an alternative to this system, wherein the people will rule and ensure that the orientation of the economy is not to satisfy the greed of the capitalists, but to fulfil the needs of the masses of toilers and tillers.

It must be recalled that the proposed Gorakhpur nuclear power project is a 2,800 Megawatt project. There is only one source of water nearby – the Fatehabad branch of the Bhakra Canal. Lakhs of farmers are dependent on this canal for their livelihood. This Canal was constructed in 1956 to ensure irrigation water. This water will get diverted for the nuclear plant, and it will become unusable for agriculture, if the project goes ahead.

It must also be noted that Fatehabad district is one of the most fertile districts of the country, and there are three crops sown every year. It is also environmentally rich, with countless Black bucks and Nilgai which is why it is popularly known as the "Kashmir of Haryana". This is also one reason that the farmers are saying that this is not suitable for a nuclear power project.

During the protest meeting, the activists from the panchayats pointed out that in their desperation to push through the project, the government was wilfully violating all the rules prescribed by the Atomic Energy Commission regarding where a Nuclear Plant can be established.

According to these rules and guidelines, there can be no population within 1.6 Km from the project and a maximum of 20,000 people within 5 KM. No other projects should be carried out which will result in increase in this population limit. It is also stated that there should be no village with a population exceeding 10,000 in this area. In addition, there should be no town of more than 1 lakh people within a distance of 30 KM.

Speakers pointed out that there were many villages within a 5KM radius of Gorakhpur with a population exceeding 10,000, and Fatehabad town had a population 1.5 lakhs. Within a distance of 30 KM, the present population was between 25-30 lakhs.

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