The promised power from the Jaitapur nuclear project may light up the area, but Nandkumar Raut already finds the future dark. “Almost every family in the village has a police case against at least one member,” said the farmer from Madban, the village closest to the project site in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district. Raut said he has at least three cases foisted on him — one barring him from entering his own village...

Outsiders barred from entering The Ratnagiri district administration, which has clamped prohibitory orders in the Jaitapur nuclear power project area, is preventing outsiders from entering the area even for public meetings, according to social activist Gopal Dukhande. Expressing solidarity He said that at a meeting to express solidarity with the people of Japan in Mithgavane village on March 25, the police were present in large numbers. “They harassed me and prevented me from entering...

Lauri Myllyvirta, the Finnish Greenpeace campaigner who visited the Jaitapur nuclear power project area in Ratnagiri district last year, has denied that he showed any films or other material like photos to the local people agitating against the project. In an email interview from Indonesia, Mr. Myllyvirta said these claims were absurd. He visited the area on November 20, 2010 and left the next day. On Monday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan...

Ratnagiri Collector Madhukar Gaikwad has denied permission for the two-day Independent People's Tribunal ‘public hearing' on the Jaitapur nuclear power project proposed to be held on March 6 and 7 at Niveli, one of the affected villages. Deepika D'Souza of the Tribunal said that Mr. Gaikwad, in a letter on Friday, refused permission as per orders from the police. No grounds for disallowing the meeting were given, she said. Ms. D'Souza said...

Lone absconding accused arrested Co-accused produced in juvenile court As 15 lakh State government employees and gazetted officers went on strike on Thursday to protest the gruesome killing of Additional Collector of Nashik Yashwant Sonawane, the State government cracked the whip on the oil, sand and milk mafia in the State. “In the last 36 hours, we have arrested 170 persons in raids conducted across the State,” K.P. Raghuvanshi, Additional Director-General of Police,...