Maharashtra CM orders withdrawal of cases against Nanar project protestors

In a relief to the protestors, who had agitated against the Nanar refinery project in Ratnagiri last year, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday ordered the

In a relief to the protestors, who had agitated against the Nanar refinery project in Ratnagiri last year, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday ordered the withdrawal of all cases registered against them.

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The development comes a day after the chief minister had directed the cases filed against Aarey car shed protestors be taken back.

Omkar Prabhudesai, sarpanch of Nanar village, had written a letter to Thackeray on Monday, requesting him to seek the withdrawal of the cases on the lines of his order in the Aarey Metro car depot case.

On Sunday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Nitesh Rane, too, had demanded that the cases against the Nanar protestors be withdrawn as they are “environment lovers” like the ones who protested against the car depot at Aarey.

According to a senior government official, all the protestors at Nanar were booked for unlawful assembly under sections of the Bombay Police Act on January 14, 2018, after they led an agitation against the mega oil refinery project. Locals had feared displacement and environmental issues owing to the project.

The project was one of the flashpoints between the Shiv Sena and its then ally BJP. During chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s tenure, Thackeray had led many delegations, seeking the scrapping of the project, which was later scrapped in March this year.

Meanwhile, Sena’s ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has now demanded that the government should also revisit cases filed against activists booked in the Bhima-Koregaon incident. NCP leader Jitendra Awhad said the cases against the Bhima-Koregaon agitators were “false” and need to be withdrawn immediately.