Five months after the BJP-led Maharashtra Government agreed to shift the Nanar oil refinery project out of eco-sensitive Ratnagiri district in coastal Konkan region, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday announced that the controversial refinery project would now be located in the neighbouring Raigad district.
In a written reply to a query raised in the Assembly during the ongoing monsoon session of the State Legislature, Fadnavis said that his government would locate the Nanar Refinery project in Raigad district instead of Ratnagiri district, following Opposition to the project from the local villagers and various political parties.
“There is no Opposition to the refinery project from the people in Raigad district. The people from 40 villages have not shown any resistance to the acquisition of the land for the project,” the Chief Minister said.
It may be recalled that as part of the seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha polls arrived at between the ruling BJP and its alliance partner Shiv Sena on February 18 this year, the Devendra Fadnavis government had accepted the Sena’s demand to shift the Nanar project out of Ratnagiri project. The shifting of Nanar project was one of the Sena's demands for entering into seat-sharing pact with the ruling BJP for the LS polls.
The Shiv Sena has been opposing the location of Nanar oil refinery project in Ratnagiri district right from day one. So much so that Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had on June 27, 2018 refused to Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan who wanted to call on the former to allay the former’s fears about the contentious Nanar oil refinery project.
On his part, Pradhan had said: “This is a very ambitious project for India, especially Maharashtra. We are with an open mind discussing all the issues with stakeholders and will continue to do so. I will personally go and explain the project to Uddav Thackeray. There are some genuine concerns. Our companies will try and address those concerns. Fundamentally there is no opposition. There are concerns of farmers which will be listened to and addressed”
The Sena had registered its first protest against the Nanar project on April 12, a day after an Indian consortium comprising Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) for setting an oil refinery and petroleum products complex at Nanar in Rajapur taluka of Ratnagiri district.