Fearing more violence, workers at Jaitapur site make two attempts to leave
Fearing more violence, workers at Jaitapur site make two attempts to leaveAfter two days of violence and the death of a 36-year-old man in police firing, work at the proposed nuclear plant in Jaitapur has been stalled as about 100 labourers have refused to remain at the site. Officials said the workers tried to run away from the site two times on Tuesday night.
Standing guard: The police at the Jaitapur N-power plant site yesterday.
The police say they cannot force the workers to stay back if they are
bent on leaving. Pic/Jignesh Mistry Special Inspector General of Police (Kokan Range) Parambir Singh visited the violence-affected Nate police station and also the Jaitapur nuclear plant site last evening. Ratnagiri, Jaitapur and the nearby villages were tense but peaceful.
Fencing and soil-sampling are the two types of work that are currently going on at the N-plant site. About 100 labourers from Karnataka, Bihar and other states doing this work tried to escape two times from the spot using a vehicle of the State Reserve Police Force.
"The firing and subsequent violence in the Jaitapur area has made the situation volatile. I visited the Nate police station to meet my injured officers and also to the project site where the labourers are too scared to work. I have assured them full police protection, buy can't force them to stay back," Special IGP Parambir Singh told MiD DAY. "It's up to them to take a decision now."
Praveen Gavankar of the organisation Janhit Seva Samiti said, "Labourers stopping work at the nuclear plant site is welcomed by us and shows that the sacrifice of the villagers, including the deceased Tabrej Sayekar, won't go waste. If the labourers start work under police protection, we will continue our peaceful protests and stop the work again."
He added that three days later, about 5,000 villagers are going to go on a fast to continue to press for the scrapping of the N-power project. Amjad Borkar, vice-president of the Machimar Kruti Samiti, said, "I consider this as a limited success to our protests but we want the state government to issue orders of stopping the work."
Earlier, the Sayekar family performed last rites on Sayekar, who was killed in the police firing at Jaitapur on Monday afternoon. Dy SP Sanjay More, who was injured in protests in Madban in the district, was airlifted to Mumbai yesterday for treatment. He had been admitted to the ICU after receiving 22 stitches above his ear. One PSI and 10 constables were also injured in the Madban violence.
Except Mushtaq Mirkar, who was injured in the head during Monday's police firing, all other injured protesters were discharged from the district civil hospital before the last rites of Sayekar.
