Police in India use lethal force against fishermen opposed to nuclear power plants

[Emily]

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110422/jsp/frontpage/story_13887221.jsp

Friend?s last cry haunts Jaitapur survivor
SADAF MODAK

Abdul Sattar Sahekar holds up son Tabrez?s photograph. (Shayoni Mehta)

Jaitapur, April 21: Lying on his hospital bed with a bullet injury, Mushtaq Mirkar, 20, cannot forget the last call for help from his friend Tabrez Sahekar, the anti-nuclear protester killed in alleged police firing on Monday.

?He was ahead of me among the protesters. I saw him being shot at by the police. Tabrez cried out for help but even as I held him to pick him up, the police came storming towards me. I began running and a bullet grazed my head,? said Mirkar at the Ratnagiri civil hospital.

Mirkar and Tabrez had grown up together in Sakhri-Nate, a fishing village near the proposed site for the 9,900MW nuclear power plant in Jaitapur, Maharashtra. The Mirkar family has one boat and earns Rs 500 on an average day. The villagers fear the plant will destroy their livelihood.
[snip]
Tabrez and the others were protesting against the arrest of villagers who had attacked the proposed site on Monday afternoon. The protesters said the police first used tear gas but later threw stones and then baton-charged and fired on the crowd at close range.

?They fired into houses. We thought we would lead the protests as women but they didn?t spare women, either. I was hit by a lathi and many other women were beaten and pelted with stones,? said Sameena Pawaskar, 30....

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/19_05.html
Indian police kill anti-nuclear protester in rally

 

[Emily]

Re: Police in India use lethal force against protesters opposed to Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra

Re: Police in India use lethal force against protesters opposed to Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/clamour-over-jaitapur-nuclear-power-plant-issue-continues-1.799169
Clamour over Jaitapur nuclear power plant issue continues

Exhibition in Mumbai as activists march to Jaitapur reactor site

By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
Published: 00:00 April 26, 2011

 

[Emily]

Re: Police in India use lethal force against protesters opposed to Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra

Re: Police in India use lethal force against protesters opposed to Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra

http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/09/stories/2011050963401000.htm

Jaitapur plant, a ‘dangerous version of Dhabol'

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The All India Power Engineers' Federation (AIPEF) and the National Confederation of Officers' Associations of Central Public Sector Undertakings (NCOA) have come out strongly against the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power plant.

Terming it a “dangerous nuclear version of the Enron's Dhabol fiasco,” they said the Centre agreed to the French reactor even without design and safety features being presented to and approved by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB)....

http://www.hindustantimes.com/City-to-host-Jaitapur-tribunal/Article1-698448.aspx

City to host Jaitapur tribunal
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, May 17, 2011
An independent people’s tribunal will be held in the city this week to record the public’s views on the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant in Ratnagiri district. Over three days, starting May 19, former chief justices AP Shah and SD Pandit will record the views of villagers, scientists, nuclear experts, social activists and environmentalists at St Xavier’s College....

Locals in the Jaitapur region and even India itself faces powerful nuclear industry advocates:

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/sarkozy-backs-delhi-for-un-security-council-membership-1.722986

Sarkozy backs Delhi for UN Security Council membership

Paris supports country's entry into Nuclear Suppliers' Group.

IANS
Published: 00:00 December 5, 2010
[snip]
"Sarkozy's support to India for the NSG entry comes nearly a month after US President Barack Obama supported New Delhi's full membership in multilateral groupings like the NSG, the Missile Technology Control Regime (MCTR), the Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.

Sarkozy, who began his four-day India visit here on Saturday, declared that nuclear energy would be the focus of cooperation between the two countries in the years ahead.

"Nuclear energy will now be the focus of our cooperation."....

"For instance, by participating in the construction of the Jaitapur plant (in Maharasthra), the French firm Areva is becoming a key partner in India's nuclear energy sector," Sarkozy said."

 

[Emily]

Re: Police in India use lethal force against protesters opposed to Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra

Re: Police in India use lethal force against protesters opposed to Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra

Update on this story:

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/09/26/is-democracy-thwarting-india%E2%80%99s-nuclear-power-ambitions/

September 26, 2011, 10:30 AM IST

Is Democracy Thwarting India?s Nuclear Power Ambitions?
By Megha Bahree

India?s democratic process is changing the country?s nuclear energy program at startling speed.

First it was protests at the proposed nuclear power plant at Jaitapur in Maharashtra. Now it?s protests at the plant under construction at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, and at practically every site across the country that has been designated for a new power plant. And at most places, people?s concerns about the risks of nuclear power are clashing with the government?s plans to power the country with nuclear energy.....

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/sc-to-hear-pil-on-stay-of-proposed-nuclear-plants/202046-3.html

India | Posted on Nov 14, 2011 at 09:12am IST
SC to hear PIL on stay of proposed nuclear plants today
New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a Public Interest Litigation seeking a stay on all proposed nuclear power plants on Monday. The petition was filed by a civil society group which includes former bureaucrats, scientists and NGOs.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia will take up the joint petition urging the apex court to declare as "unconstitutional" the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 and "appoint an expert independent body to conduct a thorough safety reassessment of all existing and proposed nuclear facilities across the country".
[snip]

"The government's plans for expansion of nuclear power programme and construction of newer and huge nuclear power plants without undertaking a thorough safety and comparative cost-benefit analysis, clearly made under the influence of foreign countries and multi-billion dollar nuclear industry, shows arbitrary decision-making, based on extraneous considerations and non-application of mind," the petition said.

"The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 by capping the financial liability of operators and by making suppliers not liable, violates the polluter pays principle and the absolute liability principle which have become recognised as part of the law of the land and puts to grave and imminent risk the right to safety, health, clean environment and life of the people," it said.

 

[Emily]

Re: Police in India use lethal force against fishermen opposed to nuclear power plants

Russia is a partner in the Koodankulam plant.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-19553770

11 September 2012 Last updated at 00:52 ET
Security tight after India nuclear plant protest death

Security has been tightened near a nuclear power plant in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu after a protester was shot by police on Monday.

The 44-year-old fishermen was killed in clashes in Tuticorin district.

Activists and locals say they are worried about the safety of the Koodankulam plant, in neighbouring Tirunelveli district.
[snip]
The police fired to disperse the group which had blocked the road, leading to the death of the fisherman...