ONGOLE: As the ruling BJP and TDP plan to turn Andhra Pradesh into a nuclear power hub with a series of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs), CPI national secretary K. Narayana on Thursday warned of massive State-wide protest to press for shelving of the proposed NPP on the Prakasam-Nellore district border. Instead, the party wanted the government to ground the Ramayapatnam port project at the earliest.
Leading a dharna in front of Prakasam Bhavan here, Mr. Narayana said that it was unfortunate that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had given the green signal to the NPPs, including the one at Kovvada in Srikakulam district, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home State, Gujarat, had rejected.
CPI-led All India Kisan Sabha national vice-president R. Venkaiah and CPI district secretary K. Aruna joined the activists in raising slogans against the governments for proposing the outdated NPPs.
“We want Ramayapatnam port and not NPP,” they said.
Developed countries, which had been harnessing atomic power in a big way in the past, switched to safer wind and solar power after the nuclear accidents at Fukushima Daiichi, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island, Mr. Narayana pointed out, and added that the backward Prakasam district would witness rapid progress only by encouraging port-based industries to ensure jobs for people.
The party, along with other like-minded parties, would step up the agitation for locating the second major port on the east coast at Ramayapatnam, which was best suited for the purpose, instead of any other place, he said.
Reminding the Chief Minister of his agitation before coming to power by symbolically ploughing the land allocated to VANPIC with a tractor in support of the displaced farmers, he said: “We are ready to go to jail to ensure that the farmers got back their land.”
