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Hooda urges PM to lay stone for Gorakhpur nuke plant project
Aditi Tandon/TNS

In a meeting with the Prime Minister, Hooda requested him to lay the foundation stones of two important projects - Gorakhpur atomic power plant and the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership coming up in village Jassaur Khedi in Jhajjar which falls in the Rohtak Lok Sabha constituency of his son Deepender Hooda. Hooda also requested for PM’s instructions to order speedy clearances by the related Central Government ministries. The PM is learnt to have agreed to the request though the date for the stone laying would be finalised later. The development comes close on the heels of the Supreme Court rejecting a PIL challenging the commissioning of Kudankulum nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.

Following the SC’s rejection order, the Punjab and Haryana High Court also recently dismissed petitions from the farmers of Gorakhpur who had challenged the acquisition of land in their village to set up the nuclear plant under the understanding arrived at in the Indo-US nuclear deal. The farmers had pleaded for a less fertile land to be allotted away from residential areas.

The legal hurdle over, Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said the plant was ready for construction as the acquisition process had been successfully concluded and final compensation paid to almost all land owners. Once the foundation stone is laid, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) would start construction on the site.