N-power plant will stay in Jaitapur, says Centre.

The Centre has categorically indicated to the state government that the 9,000-MW controversial Jaitapur nuclear power plant will remain in Maharashtra.

The message has been conveyed to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis by the Union power ministry led by Piyush Goyal, sources said.

The Shiv Sena, the junior partner in the BJP-led state government, has been mounting pressure on Fadnavis to relocate the nuclear power plant from Maharashtra to Gujarat. It had also launched an agitation at the plant site in Ratnagiri district of Konkan.

State's Energy Minister Chandrakant Bawankule confirmed the development. 'The Jaitapur plant comes under the jurisdiction of the Centre. As far as state government is concerned, we have made provisions to facilitate the land acquisition for the project. The work on the proposed site for nuclear power plant is under way,' he said.

Earlier, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had said, 'The nuclear power plant poses a hazard and it should be moved out of Maharashtra.'

However, the state government is faced with the challenge of providing sustained power at a lower tariff at a time when coal shortage has led to closure of thermal plants and affected almost 1805 MW of power generation.


THE INDIAN EXPRESS