KARWAR: The villagers’ indefinite strike in the vicinity of Kaiga Nuclear Power Project demanding their rehabilitation fearing radiation effects has entered its fifteenth day. A delegation of villagers accompanied by Karnataka Pranta Rajya Sangh president Maruti Marpade, met state chief secretary S V Ranganath in Bangalore on Saturday and requested the state’s intervention.Shamnath Naik and Yamuna Gaonkar, who led the delegation, told Express after returning from Bangalore on Sunday that the chief secretary was sympathetic towards the villagers and had assured them that a letter would be written to the Centre and the matter would be brought to the notice of the Parliamentary sub-committee for nuclear energy. Naik said Ranganath promised to hold a health survey in villages around Kaiga to assess possible impact of radiation. As for the rehabilitation of the villagers, Ranganath told the delegation that a high power meeting would be convened within fifteen days to discuss the issue, Naik said. He also said that Ranganath had assured them that all possible help would be given to them by the state government to redress their problems.Meanwhile, the agitators expressed unhappiness over the fact that Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri did not hear their problems although he was in the district for Kadambotsava celebrations, a two-day cultural festival to be held at Banavasi from December 24.
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