Mumbai: People in the Konkan region are up in arms at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between State-owned oil companies IOCL, BPCL and HPCL and Saudi Aramco to develop and build an integrated refinery and petrochemical complex, the Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd.
The residents see the move as a betrayal by the government, coming as it does barely a month after Industries Minister Subhash Desai’s assurance in the Assembly that the project will not be implemented against the local people’s wishes. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis too had accepted that locals were against the project and had said the government will not proceed without their consent.
Satyajit Chavan, Convener, Committee for Opposing Destructive Projects in Konkan, said, “The government has double standards and now stands exposed in front of the people of Konkan. The people have repeatedly voiced their opposition to the project, and despite this, the government is going ahead with it.”
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The committee, along with other local residents, had opposed the measurement of land to be acquired for the project. Violent clashes between the villagers and police administration a few months ago had resulted in suspension of the exercise in many villages.
“It appears as though successive governments are hell-bent on destroying the natural wealth and beauty of Konkan,” said Mr Chavan. “The earlier government brought in the Jaitapur nuclear power project and now this government is set to force this oil refinery on us.” The protest, he said, will only gain momentum here on.
All political parties, including the ruling Shiv Sena, have extended support to local residents. Recently, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had met Mr. Fadnavis along with villagers, carrying letters written by them opposing the project. The Opposition Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena too have announced that they oppose bringing in the project despite the resistance from local residents.
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