NEW DELHI - At least one person was killed and several others injured when Indian police opened fire to disperse locals protesting against the planned construction of a nuclear power plant in the western state of Maharashtra on Monday, local media reported Tuesday.

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According to Maharashtra Police Inspector General Gulabrao Pol, the cops had no option but to fire at the protesters near the nuclear site in Jaitapur, 400 kilometers from the state capital Mumbai, as the demonstrators turned violent.

"We had done everything to control the situation but the mob consisting of hundreds of people took law and order into their hands. We had no option but to fire bullets in which one person was killed," he was quoted as saying.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited plans to set up six nuclear units in Jaitapur with technical help from the French energy giant Areva.

Construction of the 10 billion U.S. dollar nuclear power plant is to begin this year. The proposed 9,900 megawatt six-reactor facility is expected to be the biggest in the world.