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Greens warn against N-plant in Sunderbans

The installation of a nuclear power plant in the Sunderbans, the mangrove forest which has been declared a world heritage site, is like inviting environmental disaster, according to environmentalists.

The Ganatantrik Nagarik Samiti, a Howrah-based non-governmental organisation working for protection of the environment in West Bengal, on Friday said the project should be treated as a violation of the fundamental right (Article 21) ensuring protection to life. The plant will pose a serious health hazard to people in the vicinity, apart from disturbing the fragile eco-system in the protected mangrove forest.

Samiti general secretary Subhas Dutta said that they were not against eco-friendly development projects or setting up of such plants elsewhere, but were concerned about the possible hazards the project will pose to the ecologically sensitive Sunderbans. The project would cause large-scale denudation of the mangrove forest, which is being depleted rapidly.

The Supreme Court had directed that "there will be no felling of trees in any forest, public or private land". The Centre's move would obviously violate this directive, Dutta pointed out.

The samiti expressed concern about the storage, transportation and disposal of radioactive material or waste, which pose a risk to the environment and human beings. It demanded a debate on the issue.

Criticising an expert's comment that the nuclear power plant was eco-friendly and totally safe, the samiti's experts countered that no one could guarantee this.

The Centre should relocate the project, the samiti said.

UNI

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