SHWETA DESAI JATTAPUR, OCTOBER 8 VILLAGERS and activists in a handful of hamlets in Maharashtra on Tuesday came together to launch a campaign opposing what is expected to be the first big beneficiary of the Indo-US nuclear deal - two 1,000 MW plants proposed to be built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) in Jaitapur. They contend that having nuclear plants in their neighbourhood is risky and therefore they will not allow the state government to acquire land even as a deadline looms to complete the acquisition process in this financial year for the first phase of the project. Long-term plans include expanding the project into a nuclear power park producing 10,000 MW While some villagers fear that radiation from the reactors will trigger health problems and hurt future generations, fishermen believe that their livelihood will be hit as the water from the plants will be released into the sea and will affect their catch. "Don't you know about the harm anuurja reactors cause?" asks Sangeeta Rajvilkar, a 38year-old villager who is hoping to stop the "deadly anuurja project" and save her land. "People become deformed and children's growth is stunted. Go see the exhibition in our village temple." The exhibition is a part of the awareness campaign launched on Tuesday to go beyond the five villages that will be directly affected by the land acquisition for the power plants and build opposition in the entire region in Ratnagiri district. .They will also include street rallies, door-to-door campaigning, reaching out to farmers in their farms and organising audio-visual shows. "If they come to take our land forcefully we will arm ourselves with 'khaajkhujli' (itching plant) and turn them back," says Rajvilkar, as dozens of locals join her in support. They say they are confident about opposing the project as they have shown their backs to several teams of district officials who came visiting and even sent back a state government team from Pune which came three times to conduct an assessment of loss of livelihood. The Jaitapur nuclear power project needs 968 hectares of land in five adjoining villages - Madban, Niveli, Karel, Mithgavane and Varliwada - which together have a population of 4,000. There are 2,800 land owners and the state government is in the process of fixing the compensation for acquiring their land.. According to the state government's own deadline, this process has to be completed within two years of its launch in 2006/07. However, armed with information from activists such as Dr Sulbha Bramhe, who led the campaign against Enron, and Gandhian anti-nuclear activist Dr Surendra Gadekar, the villagers have formed the 'Janhit Seva Samiti' as a platform for their opposition. They say they fear a "Chernobyl-like incident" and have even filed- a petition against the project in the Bombay High Court. "Moreover, the site falls in a seismic Zone-4 area and there have been around 87 seismic recordings from 1985 to 2005. So who will be responsible for radioactive leakages," asks Pravin Gavankar of the Samiti. But state government and NPCIL officials are not deterred. 'There is always opposition but it is not stopping any activity. All processes have been carried out and land acquisition is in the final stage," C B Jain, NPCIL associate director, told The Indian Express. Adds Makrand Deshpande, the state government's land acquisition officer: "A proposal for compensation will soon be tabled after which the possession of land will begin."