Environment nod for Jaitapur project lapses

The partial and conditional environmental clearance granted to the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) in Ratnagiri district of the coastal Konkan belt of Maharashtra has lapsed and villagers now want the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to stop work at the site.

The Konkan Bachao Samiti (KBS), in a letter addressed to Prakash Javadekar, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the villagers have demanded that stop work notices must be issued to the NPCIL.

The letter addressed by Adwait Pednekar and others, said: “The partial and conditional environmental clearance hastily granted to the proposed JNPP dated November 26, 2010, by your ministry, was valid for a period of five years. The clearance has lapsed on November 26, 2015.There is no provision for granting extension to a lapsed clearance.”

They pointed out that the NPCIL have never complied with the conditions of the clearance, time lines as well as any  reporting requirements – and the MoEF is aware of this fact.

“In any case, the previous clearance was fundamentally flawed by the fact that it was issued without a prior consideration of the hazards arising out of radioactivity by the  competent authority which is the principal hazard for a nuclear power project,” they said.

“Since the JNPP no longer has a valid environmental clearance, the NPCIL should stop work at the site...Your ministry shall not accord any clearance to the NPCIL without fulfilling all the due  processes under the Environment Protection Act,” the letter states.