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Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 26
The Centre today said it was in the process of “exploring new sites in Punjab for setting up atomic power plants”.
Replying to a supplementary by Anantnag MP Hasnain Masoodi on the shortage of power in Jammu and Kashmir during Question Hour, Minister of State in the Department of Atomic Energy Jitendra Singh said while the government was already in the process of setting up a plant in Haryana, it was exploring new sites near Bathinda and Patiala to set up nuclear power plants.
Around 2016, there were reports about the Centre looking for possible sites in Uttarakhand, Punjab and Haryana for setting up plants. However, the then Punjab Government and also the Congress had rejected the proposal, saying there was no need for such facility in a power surplus state.
Congress leaders also called a nuclear power plant in a densely-populated border state a huge security risk. “The risks involved are disproportionately more than the advantages,” the party argued. The Congress government in the state had also rejected the proposal for a nuclear power plant at Darauli in Patiala.