National Meet
Against Nuclear Power
Dear Friends,
Given the alarming proposal for a nuclear cluster to
be sited at Haripur in West Bengal, and the looming
threat of nuclear wave in India, a national level
meeting has been organised in Kolkata on 14 February
2007. Resource persons and participants from all over
India will share their views on the relevant issues.
The meeting will be followed by a trip to Haripur on
15 - 16th February.
You are cordially requested to attend the meeting and
the trip to convey your solidarity to the struggling
people of Haripur and contribute towards development
of a solidarity / coordination against nuclear power
in India.
All those who are connected with struggles against
nuclear power and its disastrous impacts, in whatever
ways, are earnestly requested to immediately get in
touch with the host committee with all relevant
suggestions and confirm their participation.
Schedule
February 14
Venue: Seva Kendra, 52B Radhanath Chowdhury Road,
Kolkata 700015, Phone 23290381 (beside Loreto Convent
in Convent Road. It is about 2 Km from Sealdah
Station, about 6 Km from Howrah Station and about 7 Km
from Kolkata Airport)
I. Meeting Against Nuclear Power (Presentation and
Discussion)
10 00 Am 5. 00 PM
II. Strategy Meeting of all-India activists
06. 30 PM 09 00 PM
Feb. 15-16
A collective trip to Haripur
Departure for Haripur at 15th morning 7.00 AM. Come
back to Kolkata by 2.00 PM.
Feb. 16
Press Conference
from 3 PM - 5PM
Arrangements:
Outstation participants will be provided accomodation
at Seva Kendra from 13th afternoon to 15th morning and
at Contai on 15th night. (If anyone intends to stay
16th overnight, he/she is requested to intimate
earlier.)
* Trip to Haripur will be arranged by the
organisers.
* Outstation Travel support cannot be provided in
absence of fund.
Note:
1. Senior anti nuclear activists, environment
activists and concerned eminent personalities
including from scientist community from West Bengal
and other parts of the country will be present
2. Those who are interested to present papers on
any aspect of the relevant issue are requested to
submit Abstracts (within 300 words) immediately. They
may submit the full texts within 10th February, 2007.
This will help us to organize the meet in a better
way.
3. Interested persons may go through the attached
file for a brief background.
Appeal:
Here is an urgent appeal:
We are short of funds required to organize the event.
So, do please contribute generously and appeal to
others for such contribution . Please appreciate the
fact that we, a handful of acitivist-citizens, are
taking on the entire Indian nuclear establishment and
their mentors around the planet. This would not be
possible without the help of the like-minded people.
Contribution may be sent by draft (payable at
Kolkata) or by cheque in favour of:
"Society for Direct Initiative for Social and Health
Action" immediately.
To be sent to:
DISHA
20/4 Sil Lane
Kolkata--700015
03323283989
PLEASE CONFIRM YOUR PARTICIPATION AND SEND YOUR
CONTACT PHONE NUMBER IMMEDIATELY.
Also Please forward this invitation to your contacts.
Pradip Datta
Gautam Sen
Anti Nuclear Forum
CNDP West Bengal,
Sujoy Basu
Harekrisna Debnath
Safe Energy and Environment,
National Fishworkers' Forum
In solidarity
Gautam Sen Phone No.: 2465 2507, 9433882799 email:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Office of the Anti-Nuclear Forum:
C/O Disha (P.P: Santanu Chacraverti Phone:23283989)
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Nuclear Power Project in Haripur, West Bengal
in the Context of Indo-US Nulcear Deal
National Meeting Against Nuclear Power
We all are aware that The US President George Bush has
inked the Henry Hyde Act on the December 18 last
towards actualising the Indo-US Nuke Deal, which had
been outlined in the Bush-Singh joint statement issued
on July 18 2005 at Washington DC and further developed
and reiterated on March 2, 2006 in the joint statement
issued from Delhi.
The 'Deal', as when becomes operative, will enable
India to have 'civilian' nuclear trade with the US,
and also the rest of the world. India as a
non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) is not normally entitled to this and was
specifically debarred since May 1974, when the first
Pokhran test was carried out.
The barrier had been further raised and reinforced
since May 1998, when another five tests were carried
out and India explicitly declared itself as a nuclear
weapon state. Admittedly, still a couple of hurdles
are to be crossed. But apart from other negative
impacts in terms of increased strategic proximity
between India and the US and also heightened nuclear
danger to the South Asian region and the world as a
whole, freer access to nuclear fuel and technology
will also trigger a mad race for building nuclear
power plants in the country.
Given the fact that nuclear power is as of now very
much uneconomic, capital-intensive and thereby
frontloaded, intrinsically hazardous - from mining to
power plant, potentially catastrophic, acts as a major
driver and facilitator for manufacturing nuclear
warheads, will crowd out investments and efforts for
ecologically benign alternate energy and there is as
of now no failsafe method of disposing nuclear waste
and the old outlived plants, the consequences would be
nothing short of disastrous.
In West Bengal, a new nuclear power plant is
reportedly in the offing in a coastal village called
Haripur, that too a cyclone-prone area, in the East
Medinipur district. The preliminary works are moving
apace shrouded in secrecy. The West Bengal Chief
Minister, Polit Buro Member of CPI(M) that opposed the
Indo-US nuclear deal, has not only welcomed the
nuclear power plant, but expressed his determination
to build it.
Apart from the problems cited above there would also
be large scale brutal displacement and dislocation of
people from their traditional habitats and means of
livelihood. The local fishing and agricultural
community would be severely hurt. The rich coastal
fisheries will be destroyed by the ecocidal effects of
releasing millions of gallons of hot water into the
sea. And it goes without saying that the local
populace would also be exposed to heightened radiation
hazards.
When the team of experts from Nuclear Power
Corporation of India Ltd arrived at Haripur on 17th
November 2006, accompanied by battalions of armed
police, the local residents blockaded the road and
prevented them from entering the area. The attempt was
repeated on the next day. Thousands of men, women and
children from villages around the proposed site
blockaded all entry points and vowed to embrace
instant death rather than rotting through generations
as evicted refugees exposed to nuclear menace.
The high power team was compelled to retire and the
Government had to beat a retreat for the moment. The
Chief Minister however declared his resolve to carry
on the project nonetheless with the NPCL chairman
joining the chorus. The people of Haripur have formed
the "Haripur Paramanu Bidyut Prakalpa Pratirodh
Andolan" in a 20,000 strong
public meeting on 28th November 2006.
THE PROGRAMME
In view of above, the Anti-Nuclear Forum (ANF), West
Bengal Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace
(CNDP), Safe Energy and Environment and National
Fishworkers Forum (NFF) have decided to hold a
National Seminar on the Indo-US Nuke Deal and Nuclear
Power. It will be on February 14 (10 00 Am 5. 00
PM). The main presentations will be supplemented with
intense interactive sessions.
A Strategy Meeting of all-India activists will be held
on the same day (Feb. 14. from 06. 30 PM 09 00 PM)
to chalk out a workable and effective strategy to
resist nuclear power - from mining to power plant,
wherever and whenever in India. Formation of a
dedicated all-India platform / coordination body will
also be discussed. It goes without saying that that
this is going to be a long drawn battle, which the
people, real people, of India can hardly afford to
lose.
Next morning a collective trip will be undertaken to
Haripur as a fact-finding mission and, more than that,
in solidarity with the local resistance movement in
the making. The Haripur struggle will have to be tied
up with the struggles in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan, Meghalaya and
elsewhere. The team will be back on 16th by 2 Pm to
Kolkata. A Press Conference will be held from 3.00 to
5.00 PM.
___________________________________________________________
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