Strongly opposing the proposed nuclear power plant at Haripur in West Bengal's East Midnapore district, a Trinamool Congress Parliamentarian on Tuesday said it could not be built in the densely populated area and on a multi-crop land.
"The nuclear power plant should be shifted elsewhere. It cannot be set up on a four or five crop-land threatening the livelihood of farmers. It also cannot come up in such a densely populated area," said Sisir Adhikary, a Trinamool strongman in East Midnapore district and Union Minister of State for Rural Development.
Stating that there was a thriving fish-drying industry in Haripur, which was the only source of income for its residents, he alleged that the Communist Party of India - Marxist had wrongly briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the feasibility of setting up a nuclear plant in the area.
On Monday, Dr Singh had said that four new nuclear reactors would be set up by Russia in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and a site for the fifth one had been identified in West Bengal.
