Mumbai, May 11: Scores of students of the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) are boycotting their convocation ceremony on Wednesday as a mark of protest against the proposed 9,900 MW nuclear power plant in Jaitapur.
The decision to boycott the convocation ceremony came after Ramesh along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Narayanasamy met the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on April 26 to discuss the project.
Students from the institute have been actively connected with the Jaitapur issue with five of them being arrested, while participating in a yatra from Tarapur to Jaitapur last month.
The Jaitapur nuclear power complex is located in the ecologically sensitive coastal Maharashtra region, which includes Raigad, Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts.
Nuclear Power Corporation of India is building the 9900-megawatt power plant – said to be the world”s largest – in collaboration with French nuclear designing firm Areva.
The Union Environment Ministry had last month given a conditional go-ahead to the plant. However, it is facing staunch opposition from people of the area, who fear environmental degradation in the fragile Konkan area.
The agitation against the project has the support of Shiv Sena, the Opposition party in Maharashtra.