Tension continues at Ratnagiri refinery project site

Amid stiff opposition and a day of tumultuous political happenings, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde informed villagers from the coastal Konkan district's Barsu-Solgaon tehsil on Friday that the Ratnagiri super-refinery project will not be carried out without the locals' will.

During the day, an intense protest was reported from Barsu, where the police resorted to mild caning and firing tear gas shells to disperse the crowd opposing the soil-strata testing for the Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL) project.

Konkan Range’s Inspector General of Police Praveen Pawar, Ratnagiri Collector M Devender Singh and Superintendent of Police Dhananjay Kulkarni visited the spot and reached out to the locals.

In a related development, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Ajit Pawar, said that the NCP is not opposed to development projects if it does not impact the locals, their livelihood and the environment.

Read | Ratnagiri super refinery project once again snowballs into controversy

Over the past couple of days, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP government has reached out to NCP supremo Sharad Pawar even as Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray has sided with the locals.

State Congress president Nana Patole expressed concern over the use of force.

"A large number of police forces have been deployed to disperse the protesters. Even today, the police used force against the protestors. The position of the Congress party is that the government should not take a decision on the Barsu refinery project without taking the locals into confidence. But the government is acting in a dictatorial manner,” Patole said.

Targeting Thackeray, Shinde said, “A former CM (Thackeray) himself had suggested the Barsu site to the Centre. After losing the post, he is opposing the project. One can not have such double standards,” he said. “We are a people’s government, and we are not against them. We will not proceed without the local people’s consent,” he added.

Shinde also claimed that more than 70% of the locals support the project as it will generate employment. "We will explain the benefits of the project to the remaining 30%...,” he said.

In fact, the senior Pawar, too, had asked Shinde and the state’s Industries Minister Uday Samant to take the locals along. “There is nothing that cannot be resolved without discussions,” said Samant.

Junior Pawar said, “Since some people are protesting, we have to be sensitive… it's better to have a dialogue with them, we at NCP and Pawar Saheb are very clear… we are not against development… if it does not affect the people, villages, environment, and agriculture, we must go ahead… Maharashtra has a tradition of resolving issues through dialogue.”