Gorakhpur nuclear plant inauguration on Jan 13 When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives in Gorakhpur of Fatehabad district to inaugurate Haryana’s first nuclear power station, he is likely to be greeted by determined environmentalists opposed to the plant. Activists of the Parmanu Virodhi Morcha, a coalition of anti-nuclear energy NGOs, are preparing a massive protest at Gorakhpur on January 13, the day of the plant’s inauguration. The activists are said to be seeking the support of former Army Chief VK Singh, social activist Medha Patekar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Aruna Roy of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, noted environmentalist Vandana Shiva, journalist and peace activist Praful Bidwai, Magsaysay Award recipient Sandeep Pandey and some other big names in the field of social activism. Although their movement against the Rs 23,502 crore Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojna (GHAVP) has lost much steam since the farmers accepted land compensation in August 2012, the anti-nuclear energy organizations who supported the two-year long agitation over land acquisition, continue to mobilize opposition to the project. In a seminar organised here today, Kumar Sundaram and Jitender from the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), Mehtab Alam from People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Yashvir Arya from Azadi Bachao Andolan and several other activists castigated the government for “risking people’s lives” “What could be more ironic than the fact that a few days before the third anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in Delhi. He is coming here to sell his nuclear programme,” said Kumar Sundaram. “In his recent press conference, Manmohan Singh said his performance as PM will be judged by the historians, but we say his term will be judged by physicians, who for years, will treat patients suffering from radiation-induced cancer, it will be judged by children of more than three lakh farmers who committed suicide during his term. His work will also be judged by villagers from Koodankulam, where over 10,000 people have been booked under sedition charges for opposing nuclear power project,” he added. Yashvir Arya said that earlier the anti-nuclear forces alleged it, but now the Prime Minister himself has admitted in his press conference that the nuclear deal with the US was the biggest achievement of the UPA government. Speakers, some of them local activists such as Poonam Ratti, Devi Lal, Ram Swaroop Bishnoi, Vidya Ratti and Parmanu Virodhi Morcha district president Subhash Punia, said that the campaign against the nuclear power project would be revived with added vigour now. Meanwhile, animal rights activists have demanded that work on the “Conservation Reserve” for blackbucks, blue bulls and other wild animals living in the project’s township site should be started along with the main project. Vinod Karwasra of the Akhil Bhartiya Bishnoi Jeev Raksha Samiti and Sushil Bishnoi, president of Fatehabad Bar Association had also written to the central as well the state governments in this regard. In a recent reconnaissance survey conducted on the township site on the orders of the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun observed that the land acquired by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) was a natural habitat for blackbucks and blue bulls. The WII recommended that the project township be sited elsewhere and the area in question be set aside as a wildlife reserve.. GHAVP Project Director TR Arora said that the NPCIL would start construction activities on the nuclear power projects only and work on the township would start only after the wildlife conservation plan is finalized. Mustering support The activists are said to be seeking the support of former Army Chief VK Singh, social activist Medha Patekar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Aruna Roy of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, noted environmentalist Vandana Shiva, journalist and peace activist Praful Bidwai, Magsaysay Award recipient Sandeep Pandey and some other big names in the field of social activism.