Miseries continue for nuclear plant displaced

Tarapur: Amidst protests in Jaitapur over the proposed nuclear plant, the Prime Minister on Friday inaugurated a nuclear reprocessing unit at the Tarapur nuclear plant in Maharashtra.

The inauguration of a reprocessing plant at Tarapur may be a milestone for India's nuclear power technology, but just seven kilometers away, Pophran village has become home for the people displaced by the plant.

Gulab Patil is one among the many who have not been allotted homes despite all the promises by the govt.

Displacement of villagers has set off yet another debate between development and displacement.

"They keep saying that you will get it some day but till now we havent got any house," said Patil.

Homes were allotted to about 1,000 people from the same village but those were just unlivable.

The quality of construction of the houses given to BPL families as part of the rehabilitation project are so bad that concrete crumbles at the touch of a finger. The flooring in most of the houses is completely cracked and villagers said cracks started showing within a month of their shifting in. The ceiling also drips, and there was no facility of water supply. So, most villagers have moved out of the houses to live in hutments around the place.

Nuclear Power Corporation Ltd (NPCIL) has already washed its hands off the responsibility passing the ball in state government's court. "The implementation is the responsibility of the state government," said NPCIL CMD S K Jain.

And villagers feel that they are victims of the departmental tussle. "NPCIL and Maharashtra government should discuss and take steps to resolve out problem," said Virendra Patil, a project affected person.

Though Tarapur plant is a big stride in the field of nuclear technology but displacement of villagers has set off yet another debate between development and displacement.

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