Nanar oil refinery: Shiv Sena ministers meet CM Fadnavis to get land notification cancelled

Sena minister claims industries department can cancel notification, but officials say it needs approval of high-power committee and CM

A day after the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clashed over the proposed Nanar oil refinery project in Ratnagiri, on Tuesday, Sena leader and state industries minister Subhash Desai said the procedure to denotify the land has begun.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ nod will be necessary to denotify the land for the Nanar project, officials said. (HT File Photo)

On Tuesday, ahead of the state Cabinet meeting, Shiv Sena ministers met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and submitted a letter demanding that the project be scrapped.

Fadnavis said he received the letter, and that the government would take a decision at an appropriate time and that its decision will serve the interests of the state and the Konkan region.

Officials from the state’s industries department pointed out that the notification cannot be cancelled unless it is approved by the high-power committee (HPC) headed by the chief secretary and gets the nod from the CM.

However, Desai said he has already issued directives to the industries department to start procedures to denotify the land. “The notification was issued by the industries department, so the denotification will also be done by the department. There is no need to go to the HPC to get the notification cancelled,” Desai said.

According to the Sena minister, 10 gram panchayats in Konkan are opposing the project. “The Land Acquisition Act, 2013, states clearly that acquisition should not be done forcibly,” Desai said, adding that his party has studied the details and legal provisions, and has looked at the ground reality in Ratnagiri district.

Officials from the industries department are certain the land cannot be denotified without approvals from the HPC and the CM. “The May 2017 notification was issued only after the villages and the land were surveyed and the HPC gave its nod. The project was proposed in 2015-16, and ground surveys and assessments were conducted before the notification was issued. Even if the government proposes to denotify the project, the proposal will have to go to the HPC with ground reports from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation [MIDC] and the district collector’s opinion. And for the final decision, it will go to the CM,” said an MIDC official, on condition of anonymity. “The procedure may not get completed any time soon.”