People's Sentiments Over Jaitapur Issue

It seems a strange state of affairs that a Federal Minister Jairam Ramesh says, "To make a reality of the Jaitapur power plant we will have to take into confidence the people of that area." Meanwhile, the police firing, as is their wont, is giving a blow to that confidence. The question that arises is, why do police go berserk at the slightest provocation? Is there just one chapter in the police manual that teaches crowd management?

People's Sentiments

The Maharashtra Government is ordering a probe into the firing of that incident at Jaitapur, but does not consider a probe into the police firing. Is it not strange that Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil always favors police incident and does not take into consideration people's sentiments?

There is no denying the fact that the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) try and make as much political capital from these incidents as possible. But the state government is no less than them in such matters. Why is it giving these parties to take advantage of such issues and play it up as far as possible in its own inimitable style by jumping into the fray so that it is gasping for breath and gets one more chance to revive and get a life? Just what is the reason that a democratic government is sitting immobilized and instead of giving the problem in hand some cool thinking and look for a solution to it, it resorts to police firing, fanning the flames?

Studying Plant

What should have been done is that the government, keeping people's feelings in mind, should have stopped the Jaitapur plant and in this duration made a new feasibility report of the plant's validity. But it is a pity that this did not take place. Ramesh has definitely spoken about studying the plant from the very beginning again, but along with it he talked about many other progressive projects for the country. This goes to show that he is adamant to go ahead with the plant, which he has mentioned to the public at many occasions.

The biggest reason for the people against the Jaitapur nuclear plant is the disaster that has taken place in Japan's Fukishama plant and its aftermath, which has got the whole world worried and not only people in India. If all problems of the world are looked at from human viewpoint, the first issue that should be studied is people's sentiments.