Won’t restart Maval project till farmers agree: Chavan

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan today said suspended work of the contentious closed water pipeline project at Maval, which led to a violent protest recently, would not be recommenced till the "misgivings" of the affected farmers were removed.

"Nothing will be done by keeping people in the dark. This applies to all projects including Jaitapur (nuclear power plant)," he told reporters after visiting the injured agitators in a hospital at Talegaon near here.

Farmers were protesting against the pipeline project for supply of water from Pavna dam to Pimpri Chinchwad township last week, when police opened fire leaving three persons dead and several others injured.

Chavan denied that he had described the violence in Maval as a "pre-planned conspiracy", and added that the truth would come out in the judicial inquiry, ordered by the state government to probe the incident.

The chief minister said the guilty would not be spared but stressed that it would be premature to hold any police official guilty before completion of inquiry.