It inspired the people of singur and nandigram. The project has not been shelved and people are keeping a vigil.
Sushanta Bhunia of Haripur may be aged but his spirit is unwavering as he narrates the tale of the people of Haripur, a conglomeration of 19 odd villages in Contai of East Midnapore, resisting the Centre and the state government's attempts to set up a nuclear power plant. “Dr S. K. Jain, chairman and managing director of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCI), had come to inspect the area but had to retreat as early as on November 17, 2006. He returned the next day under heavy police protection. Around 18 police vans carried armed policemen but we matched them with thousands of villagers. Then, Jain tried to sneak in riding pillion on a motorbike. We recognised him and stopped him. Since then, no government official has dared to visit Haripur in connection with setting up of a nuclear power plant.”
In fact, Haripur showed the path to Nandigram. Three months before roads of Nandigram were dug up, Haripur erected a barricade at Junput Bazar, the main entry point to the area. Villagers converged behind the barricades to prevent ‘anyone unwanted’. Even the police and the district administration were not allowed. The message was loud and clear: “This land belongs to us, not to the government”. Supporters of the ruling Left Front’s partner West Bengal Socialist Party (WBSP) united together with Trinamool Congress, Congress and Paschmbanga Khet Majur Samity and Matsyajibi Unnayan Samity (unit of National Fishworkers’ Forum). Although Jain, chairman of the site selection panel for N-Plant, could not even enter Haripur, forget inspecting the proposed site, he nonetheless informed chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on November 19, 2006, that ''Haripur has a good potential for setting up a Nuclear Plant''.
Bhunia, over 70 years old, says, “The plant’s core area would eat up 15 villages in a 1.6 km radius. More than 20,000 people would be deprived of their land and income. Apart from that, 75,000 recorded fishermen, whose only source of income is fishing and related activities, will be forced out of their livelihood.” The proposed N-Plant has annoyed even school children like Anu Samanta. “There are three high schools and 14 primary schools and about eight child education centres in this area. Where will we go? Is it that the government does not want us to be educated,” are her words.
A 25-km-long sea dyke was built during British period to protect this area from sea waves and hurricanes. A few prominent sea beach resorts like Digha, Shankarpur and Mandarmani exist in the vicinity. Shankarpur is also an important fishing harbour. Most of the three million people living in the entire region are dependent on the sea for their livelihood which will be affected if a nuclear project came up. The Haripur area is also rich in agriculture Rishikesh Giri, another resident, says, “Haripur produces rice twice a year, including that of the Dhudheswar (a high quality fine rice) variety. Apart from that, we produce wheat, mustard, tomato, eggplant, sesame, green chilli and various kinds of vegetables. We don’t need artificial irrigation. We have our ponds which store rain water and serves our fields throughout the year. Of course, the ponds give us sweetwater fish too.” The per acre yield of rice here is 2,400 kg, much higher than the national average. The hay serves as animal fodder, firewood and roofing material. Giri, whose landholding is modest, has three sons and a daughter who is married. One son is a farmer, another one is an employee of Reliance Industries while the remaining one is a Vaishnavite sanyasi.
Local state Assembly legislator Dibyendu Adhikari admits, “Haripur and the adjoining area is the main source of vegetable supply for the Contai sub-division.” Haripur is dotted with betel vines, coconut trees and banana trees. One cannot count the number of betel vines here. “It may be 7,000 or more. We supply betel leaves to the whole of India,” Ananta Bera, a farmer proudly claims.
Sukumar Bhunia, block Panchayat chief and head of the Committee against Nuclear Reactor to save rights to Land and Livelihood, recalls the legacy of struggle here, “People of Midnapore marched to Haripur at the call of Mahatma Gandhi during Salt Satyagraha.” Even today, about 1,000 villagers live of salt processing.
Prabhuram Dalal is the chief of the fishermen's body here. According to him, there are 42 jetties in the first circle of 1.6 km. Each boat employs around 18 people. The Haripur jetty alone has 95 hand-pulled and 50 mechanised boats. More than 2,750 fishing huts dot the coastal line of Haripur and the adjoining 19 villages. Prabhuram is candid: “If the nuclear power plant is built, about 1.5 crore fishermen, from Kakdwip in West Bengal to Paradip in Orissa, will be directly affected.”
Energy scientist Professor Sujoy Basu, ex-chief of School of Energy Studies, Jadavpur University, corroborates Prabhuram’s anxiety. Scientists of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata are anxious too. Basu says: “It seems we have not taken any lesson from past disasters. Haripur is at the confluence of a river. During high tide, sea water rushes up the rivers and even reaches Farakka in Maldah. If the plant is built, sea water will carry nuclear waste up to that distance. Now, can you imagine the situation?”
The nuclear plant, if it comes up, will displace more than a million people. According to the blueprint, a 1.6-km-radius area forms the core area where none are allowed to settle. Then, there will be an ‘inner ring’ of 3 km radius as a buffer zone. This is specially meant for forestation. The ‘outer ring’ will be of a five km radius, where only 5 to 10 per cent of the present population would be allowed to settle. If the line is drawn, the distance intrudes into Contai (Kanthi) town and the populated areas of Henria, Egra and Nandigram blocks come into this ring.
But what gives Haripur the courage to defy the Indian State? They have even demonstrated outside the Russian Consulate in Kolkata. Sushanta Bhunia says, “The Russian authorities listened to us and then said, ‘We came here as your government has asked us. You please talk to your government'.” He continues, “Medinipur is the land of revolutionaries. We have sacrificed our lives but have never lowered our head in front of oppressors. We are their sons and daughters. We will not leave our land may what come.”
Nandigram let out the same warning in 2007. Subhendu Adhikari, MP from East Midnapore and leader of the Nandigram movement, admits: “Haripur taught me how to fight for the cause of the people. It helped me to stand beside the people of Nandigram. So, Haripur is the mother of the struggles in Singur and Nandigram.” Hrisikesh Giri goes on: “During the Freedom movement, Gandhi and the revolutionaries taught us one thing. There will be no let up in our movement till the proposed
bill is scrapped. Till then, we do not want any development work. We don’t want relief and ration. Land is our mother. If our land is lost, we will die.The government has to understand that this land is ours.”
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Sushanta Bhunia of Haripur may be aged but his spirit is unwavering as he narrates the tale of the people of Haripur, a conglomeration of 19 odd villages in Contai of East Midnapore, resisting the Centre and the state government's attempts to set up a nuclear power plant. “Dr S. K. Jain, chairman and managing director of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCI), had come to inspect the area but had to retreat as early as on November 17, 2006. He returned the next day under heavy police protection. Around 18 police vans carried armed policemen but we matched them with thousands of villagers. Then, Jain tried to sneak in riding pillion on a motorbike. We recognised him and stopped him. Since then, no government official has dared to visit Haripur in connection with setting up of a nuclear power plant.”
In fact, Haripur showed the path to Nandigram. Three months before roads of Nandigram were dug up, Haripur erected a barricade at Junput Bazar, the main entry point to the area. Villagers converged behind the barricades to prevent ‘anyone unwanted’. Even the police and the district administration were not allowed. The message was loud and clear: “This land belongs to us, not to the government”. Supporters of the ruling Left Front’s partner West Bengal Socialist Party (WBSP) united together with Trinamool Congress, Congress and Paschmbanga Khet Majur Samity and Matsyajibi Unnayan Samity (unit of National Fishworkers’ Forum). Although Jain, chairman of the site selection panel for N-Plant, could not even enter Haripur, forget inspecting the proposed site, he nonetheless informed chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on November 19, 2006, that ''Haripur has a good potential for setting up a Nuclear Plant''.
Bhunia, over 70 years old, says, “The plant’s core area would eat up 15 villages in a 1.6 km radius. More than 20,000 people would be deprived of their land and income. Apart from that, 75,000 recorded fishermen, whose only source of income is fishing and related activities, will be forced out of their livelihood.” The proposed N-Plant has annoyed even school children like Anu Samanta. “There are three high schools and 14 primary schools and about eight child education centres in this area. Where will we go? Is it that the government does not want us to be educated,” are her words.
A 25-km-long sea dyke was built during British period to protect this area from sea waves and hurricanes. A few prominent sea beach resorts like Digha, Shankarpur and Mandarmani exist in the vicinity. Shankarpur is also an important fishing harbour. Most of the three million people living in the entire region are dependent on the sea for their livelihood which will be affected if a nuclear project came up. The Haripur area is also rich in agriculture Rishikesh Giri, another resident, says, “Haripur produces rice twice a year, including that of the Dhudheswar (a high quality fine rice) variety. Apart from that, we produce wheat, mustard, tomato, eggplant, sesame, green chilli and various kinds of vegetables. We don’t need artificial irrigation. We have our ponds which store rain water and serves our fields throughout the year. Of course, the ponds give us sweetwater fish too.” The per acre yield of rice here is 2,400 kg, much higher than the national average. The hay serves as animal fodder, firewood and roofing material. Giri, whose landholding is modest, has three sons and a daughter who is married. One son is a farmer, another one is an employee of Reliance Industries while the remaining one is a Vaishnavite sanyasi.
Local state Assembly legislator Dibyendu Adhikari admits, “Haripur and the adjoining area is the main source of vegetable supply for the Contai sub-division.” Haripur is dotted with betel vines, coconut trees and banana trees. One cannot count the number of betel vines here. “It may be 7,000 or more. We supply betel leaves to the whole of India,” Ananta Bera, a farmer proudly claims.
Sukumar Bhunia, block Panchayat chief and head of the Committee against Nuclear Reactor to save rights to Land and Livelihood, recalls the legacy of struggle here, “People of Midnapore marched to Haripur at the call of Mahatma Gandhi during Salt Satyagraha.” Even today, about 1,000 villagers live of salt processing.
Prabhuram Dalal is the chief of the fishermen's body here. According to him, there are 42 jetties in the first circle of 1.6 km. Each boat employs around 18 people. The Haripur jetty alone has 95 hand-pulled and 50 mechanised boats. More than 2,750 fishing huts dot the coastal line of Haripur and the adjoining 19 villages. Prabhuram is candid: “If the nuclear power plant is built, about 1.5 crore fishermen, from Kakdwip in West Bengal to Paradip in Orissa, will be directly affected.”
Energy scientist Professor Sujoy Basu, ex-chief of School of Energy Studies, Jadavpur University, corroborates Prabhuram’s anxiety. Scientists of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata are anxious too. Basu says: “It seems we have not taken any lesson from past disasters. Haripur is at the confluence of a river. During high tide, sea water rushes up the rivers and even reaches Farakka in Maldah. If the plant is built, sea water will carry nuclear waste up to that distance. Now, can you imagine the situation?”
The nuclear plant, if it comes up, will displace more than a million people. According to the blueprint, a 1.6-km-radius area forms the core area where none are allowed to settle. Then, there will be an ‘inner ring’ of 3 km radius as a buffer zone. This is specially meant for forestation. The ‘outer ring’ will be of a five km radius, where only 5 to 10 per cent of the present population would be allowed to settle. If the line is drawn, the distance intrudes into Contai (Kanthi) town and the populated areas of Henria, Egra and Nandigram blocks come into this ring.
But what gives Haripur the courage to defy the Indian State? They have even demonstrated outside the Russian Consulate in Kolkata. Sushanta Bhunia says, “The Russian authorities listened to us and then said, ‘We came here as your government has asked us. You please talk to your government'.” He continues, “Medinipur is the land of revolutionaries. We have sacrificed our lives but have never lowered our head in front of oppressors. We are their sons and daughters. We will not leave our land may what come.”
Nandigram let out the same warning in 2007. Subhendu Adhikari, MP from East Midnapore and leader of the Nandigram movement, admits: “Haripur taught me how to fight for the cause of the people. It helped me to stand beside the people of Nandigram. So, Haripur is the mother of the struggles in Singur and Nandigram.” Hrisikesh Giri goes on: “During the Freedom movement, Gandhi and the revolutionaries taught us one thing. There will be no let up in our movement till the proposed
bill is scrapped. Till then, we do not want any development work. We don’t want relief and ration. Land is our mother. If our land is lost, we will die.The government has to understand that this land is ours.”
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Arindam Chaudhuri bags Delhi team of i1 Super Series
IIPM ranks No 1 in International Exposure in the 'Third Mail Today B-School Survey'
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri Dean Business School IIPM
IIPM: What is E-PAT?
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS
IIPM Mumbai Campus
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
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