Congress goons disrupt anti-Jaitapur meet

The annual meeting of NGOs, under the banner of Konkan Vinashkari Prakalp Virodhi Samiti (KVPVS) in Ratnagiri, was allegedly disrupted on Sunday by Congress goons.

The Samiti, which is vehemently opposing the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP), has claimed that the goons are close associates of industries minister Narayan Rane.

“They tried to threaten us. They warned us, saying no such meeting will be allowed in Ratnagiri city since people attending are outsiders,” said Vaishali Patil of KVPVS. She added that the Congress is losing its ground due to increasing support for the anti-JNPP movement and has therefore turned to such acts.

Congress activist Sameer Zari said that outsiders were spreading wrong information about the development projects. “We had to stop the meeting, since lot of nonsense was being discussed there,” he told DNA.

Interestingly, the ‘outsiders’ in question were villagers from neighbouring districts of Raigad and Sindhudurg. Amjad Borkar, who was representing fishermen from Sakhri Nate village near JNPP, was also asked to leave the meeting venue. “The police disrupted a simple annual meeting. This is the murder of democracy by the ruling party itself,” said Patil.