Activists to protest against proposed nuke power plant

Ahmedabad, Apr 21 (UNI) Anti-nuke activists will gather at Mithi Viradi, a proposed site for nuclear power station in Bhavnagar district near Alang ship breaking yard, to register their protest against the upcoming project.

Talking to UNI, an anti-nuke activist, Dr Surendra Gadekar, who is leading the activists, said, ''We will reach Mithi Viradi on April 27 where we will stage slide shows for villagers, explaining them about the dangers of living near a nuclear plant. In the event of finalisation of Indo-US nuclear deal, the government proposes to set up its second nuclear power plant in Gujarat after Kakarapar for which it has acquired 3,000 acres at Mithi Viradi.'' ''The slide show will depict the findings of a survey conducted in 1991 among the population living in five villages in the vicinity of Rawatbhata nuclear power plant in Rajasthan. The survey has revealed that cancer, physical disability, incomplete mental growth, women becoming sterile and infant deaths had gone up four to seven times among these villagers,'' Dr Gadekar said. He had earlier spearheaded an agitation against Kakrapar nuclear power plant in South Gujarat.

''Serious effects on health were also found in people living close to the uranium mining site. We have pictures of human beings, even cattles and goats, suffering from tumours due to radiation emanating from the plant,'' he said.

Dr Gadekar runs the Institute for Total Revolution, an NGO based on Gandhian ideology in Vedchchi in South Gujarat.

UNI