The ruling Shiv Sena on Thursday opened a new front against the ruling BJP, as it vehemently opposed India's largest oil refinery and petroleum products complex at Nanar in Ratnagiri district in coastal Konkan region, a project that threatens to be an issue in the 2019 lok Sabha polls.
The Sena’s opposition to the Nanar refinery project came 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.
“Despite the assurance by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that the Nanar project would not be thrust on the people of Ratnagiri district, the Centre has precisely done that. Come what may, we will not let the oil refinery project to come up at Nanar,” Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said in a statement issued here.
In his elaboration, Uddhav recalled that Fadnavis had categorically said that if there was opposition to the “environmentally hazardous” oil refinery project from the local people, the project would not be set up at Nanar.
“Through its decision to locate the refinery project at Nanar in Ratnagiri district, the Modi Government has betrayed the confidence of the local people who have been opposing the project for quite some time. That only goes to prove that the chief minister’s assurance to people has no value at all. If the Centre chooses to go ahead with the project by ignoring the Opposition from the local people, we will not let project to fructify at any time in future,” Uddhav said.
“The Shiv Sena’s stand has been: Don’t destroy ecologically-sensitive Konkan region in general and in particular Mangoes and bamboos grown there, all in the name of development. We have broached this issue with the chief minister. He has accepted our point of view,” the Sena president said.
“In fact, Fadnavis should have told the Centre in clear cut terms that Nanar refinery was an anti-people project and it should not be set up at Nanar. The chief minister may have now changed his earlier, but we are sticking to our stand: we will not allow the refinery project to come up at Nanar,” Uddhav said.
When completed the Rs 3-trillion Nanar refinery will be the largest single location refinery complex in the world with a capacity of 60 million tonnes.
In fact, the Nanar refinery project is the second major project that the Shiv Sena has opposed the coastal Konkan region.