Locals don't trust govt, says Sanjay Raut on Ratnagiri project row

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday said the locals at Barsu, where a refinery has been proposed, have no trust in the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra, days after NCP president Sharad Pawar advised the ruling dispensation to hold a dialogue with those villagers opposing the project.

Talking to reporters, Raut also alleged that the refinery project is being executed to protect the interests of politicians and “outsiders” who have bought land at Barsu and demanded that the government make the list public of such people.

“I heard what Sharad Pawar said that there should be a dialogue with the locals and take them into confidence. But what should one do? They don’t have trust in the government,” Raut said.

Pawar on Wednesday said the Maharashtra government should hold a dialogue with local villagers who are opposing a refinery project in the coastal Ratnagiri district. If the issue was not resolved even after that, an alternative site should be found, he said.

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The NCP chief said his party did not oppose development projects in Konkan, but finding out the opinion of the locals was a must.

A section of residents of Barsu village in Ratnagiri district’s Rajapur tehsil, more than 400 km from Mumbai, are up in arms against the project and the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress, the NCP’s allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, are supporting them.

Raut said his party chief Uddhav Thackeray has said that there was a continuous demand for alternative land from the Centre after the plan to have a refinery at Nana was shelved.

“An alternative land was proposed at the insistence of Delhi. But in two-and-a-half years, the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray did not try to forcibly acquire land.

“Our position is that if people did not want the project then we do not need Barsu (refinery project). And the way locals are opposed and the atmosphere is, the government should stop land acquisition and the survey. Till that time the situation will not come under control,” he said.