Some 350km (220 miles) from India’s commercial capital, Mumbai, lies the village of Madban overlooking the vast expanse of the Arabian Sea.
It is in this village that a 10,000 megawatt nuclear power plant is proposed – and farmers and fishermen, backed by campaigners, are hardening their stance against it.
People from Madban believe the project will cause havoc to the environment and to their livelihoods.
Pravin Gavhankar, a local farmer who is leading the campaign against the plant, expresses his resolve in no uncertain terms: “We have been living here for centuries; we will die but not abandon our ancestral homes and farms.”
Plans for the government’s ambitious nuclear power plant came after the September 2008 Indo-French agreement. This was implemented soon after the global body, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, lifted international restrictions and permitted other countries to collaborate with India on civil nuclear deals.
The French nuclear company Areva is set to install six nuclear reactors, each able to produce 1,650 megawatts of power, in this part of the coastline of western Maharashtra state.
The villagers are not just opposed to the nuclear plant in their backyard but also to nine other power projects in the region which are in various stages of being commissioned.
Mr Gavhankar believes they will destroy the region’s ecology.
In Madban and other villages on the proposed site of the plant, local people refuse to believe that land officially acquired last month has suddenly ceased to be theirs.
The government acquired land belonging to 2,400 other farmers – in four villages. On it, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India is to start work on the project next year – along with Areva.
The aim is to fuel energy-starved India’s continued economic growth. Over the next decade alone, the contribution of nuclear energy is expected to rise from just 3% to 6% of India’s total needs.
You can make solar energy from sunlight, wind energy from air and the water in this long coast of the Arabian sea produces enough waves to generate thousands of megawatts of power. Why are they not using these natural resources?, Mr Gavhankar asking.
– from news.bbc.co.uk