Uddhav writes to PM, says ready for mega refinery in Ratnagiri

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has already written to prime minister Narendra Modi, informing him about the available land in Barsu-Solegaon

Mumbai Three years after the notification issued for the acquisition of the land for the mega refinery project at Nanar in Ratnagiri was scrapped on the insistence of the Shiv Sena, the state government under the leadership of the party has taken a U-turn and informed the central government that it was ready to implement the mega project at an alternative location, just 20-km away.

the letter stated that 90% of the land in the proposed location is baron and has no settlements. It further said that there was no need for rehabilitation and no resistance to the project (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has already written to prime minister Narendra Modi, informing him about the available land in Barsu-Solegaon. In the letter written in January, Thackeray informed the prime minister that the state government will make 13,000 acres land available in Barsu-Solegaon for the refinery and another 2,144 acres for the crude oil terminus at nearby Sakri Nate village.

Meanwhile, Sena minister Aaditya Thackeray said that the project will not take off without taking the local people into confidence. However, the letter stated that 90% of the land in the proposed location is baron and has no settlements. It further said that there was no need for rehabilitation and no resistance to the project.

The Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPL), a joint venture between the three state-owned oil companies, has already begun the pre-feasibility survey at the location. Shiv Sena was staunchly against the project and had compelled the then Fadnavis government in March 2019 to scrap the notification of land acquisition.

The Sena has now taken a U-turn and in the letter, the party chief stated, “The implementation of the project in Konkan will help the state increase the GSDP by 8.5%”. State environment minister Aaditya Thackeray, who is on a three-day tour of Konkan, said on Wednesday that the project will be implemented only after taking the locals into confidence.

“We opposed the project at Nanar as the villagers were against it. We are not going to build it at Nanar at any cost. Besides Barsu-Solegaon, there are a couple of other locations under consideration. State needs good projects, but not against the will of the locals. I spoke to the chief minister in the morning. The project will not be pushed against the will of the villagers,” he said.

The ₹3 lakh crore West Coast refinery is proposed to have an output capacity of 60 million metric tonnes a year. Saudi Aramco, an oil behemoth, had in April 2018, partnered in the project with other strategic partners to hold 50% stake.

Satyajeet Chavan of Barsu-Solgaon Panchkroshi Refinery Virodhi Samiti said that the villagers from five villages are against the project. “Though the state government is trying to portray zero resistance to the project, the truth is 95% of the villagers are against the refinery or even the nuclear power projects. The people who have been pushing the project are from other parts of the districts,” he said and added that villagers are angry over the U-turn by Sena.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has welcomed the decision. “We are happy that Shiv Sena has taken the right decision and it is better late than never,” said BJP’s state unit chief Chandrakant Patil.

In March 2019, just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis scrapped the land acquisition process, nullifying the notification issued on May 18, 2017.