Fishermen in the predominantly Muslim villages of Nate and Sakhri Nate along the Ratnagiri coast fear curbs on the movement of their nearly 400 fishing trawlers and damage to the marine life once the nuclear plant project gets underway. The entire populations of over 1,200 people in the two villages are Muslim.

The fishermen had joined protests along with the residents of nearby villages during the recent visit to the plant by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Industries Minister Narayan Rane.

According to a source, the state government officials have reached out to clerics in the Konkan belt and also held a meeting with them. The officials have requested the clerics to convince the Muslim fishermen that the nuclear plant is not a threat in anyway and would not affect marine life nor would any restrictions be imposed by the government on the movement of their trawlers.

The clerics, thereafter, got in touch with the Muslim fishermen, held several meetings, and have tried to convince them that the nuclear plant would not cause them any harm. Rane has also held a meeting with the fishermen from the two villages and assured them that they would not be affected by the project in anyway.

However, speaking to the media on Sunday, Rane said that technically the Muslim fishermen are not projects affected persons (PAPs) but were outsiders and thus not in any way losing their land or houses. He added that the government has still worked out a package for them which includes construction of a fishing jetty, creation of cold storage facilities, desilting of the Musa-Kazi fishing jetty and provisions of nets and vessels.

Local residents from all villages around the Jaitapur power plant are protesting against the world’s largest nuclear plant, which is to be set up in the Ratnagiri district in the coastal Konkan region.