Residents of Gogi village in Shahapur taluk of Yadgir district staging a protest against uranium mining in the village on Thursday.

Union Minister of State in the PMO has shown interest in the project’

Activists of Bhoomi Tayi Horata Samiti and residents of Gogi village staged a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Yadgir on Thursday and urged the Union and State governments not to resume uranium mining in the village. They also opposed the proposed nuclear power plant in the village.

The protesters, led by Mallanna Pariwana, farmer leader and president of the samiti, said that the villagers would possibly suffer skin and other diseases if the proposed nuclear power project was established. “We have been opposing such anti-human projects in our village since the beginning when uranium testing for mining was taken up expressing our apprehensions about the spread of diseases. However, Union Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Jeetendra Singh, who gave a written answer during Parliament Session recently, has shown interest in establishing the project, ignoring the opposition from villagers,” Mr. Pariwana said.

The villagers would intensify the agitation if the Union government did not drop the project, he added.

Later, they submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner.

Mallinath Talwar, Madivalappa Mavinamarad, Lalansab Chowdhary, Channabasappa Diggi and others participated.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/Villagers-oppose-uranium-mining-proposed-nuclear-plant-at-Gogi/article17316692.ece