Armed with pamphlets that intended to bust the myth about the government’s promise of better facilities that would come once the nuclear reactor was set up, the villagers, led by the Paschim Banga Khet Mojur Samiti, went around the fair trying to raise public opinion against the reactor.

“In a survey, we found that 98.3 per cent of Haripur residents don’t want the electricity promised by the government following the setting up of the reactor,” said Swapan Ganguly, general secretary of the samiti.

The villagers, supporters of the Paramanu Chulli Birodhi O Bhite Maati Jibon Jibika Bachao Committee, which had been opposing the plan to set up the reactor since 2006, hoped their protest at the fair would make more people aware of their plight.

“I have no land of my own, I work as a labourer on an agricultural land. What would I live on if these lands are taken away for nuclear power generation?” wondered Giri.

Twenty-eight-year old Tapashi Manna echoed similar sentiments. “I feed a family of five from the produce of the one bigha land that I have. I cultivate a bit of paddy, potatoes, brinjals, tomato—s - enough to keep us going. We sell off whatever is left,” she said.

Baneswar Manna and Babulal Giri, owners of a couple of bighas of land, said a job or compensation money was of no good to them. “We have been farmers for generations. We can’t do any other work. We possess no other skill. We don’t want to work as labourers in government factories,” Baneswar said. Babulal agreed and asserted they were ready to shed blood to save their lands.