Vested interests behind opposition to Jaitapur nuclear power plant: Rane

Rane,who will visit Jaitapur on January 29 to convince the locals to give up their opposition,said he had received information about the vested interests from the police.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has signed an MoU with French firm Areva for building two nuclear reactors with 1,650 MW capacity each at Jaitapur in Ratnagiri,to be eventually scaled up to 10,000 MW.

Rane said he had written to NPCIL on Thursday,seeking an additional compensation package for the project-affected. He said he had sought compensation at Rs 10 lakh an acre,besides two per cent of profits to be used for development works and supply of power from the plant to Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.

Rane said NPCIL chairman and managing director S K Jain had,in a fax message on Saturday,agreed to pay additional compensation for the land as decided by the state government and added that a committee under him (Rane) would soon send a revised proposal.

The NPCIL has also agreed to deposit a lumpsum amount in a separate account as a fixed deposit for the interest to be provided to land owners,aid for construction of a fishing jetty,cold storage and fishing nets,financing purchase of trawlers and desilting Musa- Kazi fishing jetty,among others.