In this context, Karat has made it clear that the proposed nuclear power plant in West Bengal’s Haripur should also be subjected to similar review.
Talking to reporters in the party’s state headquarters, Karat raised the issue of the danger of nuclear power plant and mentioned about the Jaitapur project in Maharastra where the government is going ahead with their plan to set up a nuclear power plant with French cooperation.
Karat said that peasants there were opposed to the plant and protesting against it. Already people died there when the police fired upon them. "So many people have expressed concern over this project. The French technology is not a tested one.Moreover, Jaitapur is situated in seismic zone. After seeing what happened in Japan’s Fukushima power plant, the government should not be adamant," said Karat.
Incidentally, the CPI (M) led government in West Bengal aggressively lobbied for a nuclear power plant to be set up in the state and accordingly of the six proposed nuclear power plants one has been awarded to the state. Haripur has been selected for the project.
Prakash Karat has also expressed concern over the possible use of illegal money in the ongoing assembly elections in West Bengal. Karat has observed that the flow of illegal money in election is a serious matter. He said, "We have seen what happened in Tamilnadu, how hundreds of crores of rupees were spent there to influence the votes. The Election Commission have taken some measures there. They have installed check posts to stop this flow of cash. After that Rs.50 crore worth of cash and Rs.20 crore worth of materials were seized." But, according to Karat, this is only a tip of the iceberg. To prevent similar thing taking place here, Karat appealed to the EC to introduce similar measures in West Bengal to check the entry of illegal money in elections. He has mentioned that already his party has raised this issue with the EC.