UDDHAV TAKES A U-TURN ON REFINERY

BREAKING GROUND CM Uddhav Thackeray is keen to avoid the ‘antidevelopment’ tag

- Kiran D. Tare

On March 27, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan revealed Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s best-kept secret at a function organised by Marathi daily Loksatta in Mumbai. Pradhan, who handled the ministry of petroleum and natural gas earlier, said Thackeray has changed his mind on a proposed petrochemical refinery in coastal district Ratnagiri in the Konkan region, which he vehemently opposed earlier. On the next day, it became clear that Thackeray had indeed written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 12 expressing his willingness to acquire land for the refinery at Barsu village instead of the original site at nearby Nanar in the same taluka, Rajapur.

At Barsu, however, the villagers are unwilling to accept Thackeray’s revised proposal. On March 30, they marched in large numbers to the Rajapur tehsil office under the banner of the BarsuSolgaon Panchkroshi Refinery Virodhi Sanghatana and asked the government not to go ahead with the project as it would harm the environment. “We will fight to save our land till our last breath. The villagers are united against the proposed refinery,” says Amol Bole, president of the organisation.

The $60 billion project, aiming at an annual oil production capacity of 60 million tonnes, had been a major reason for strained relations between the Shiv Sena and the BJP when they jointly ruled the state from 2014 to 2019. While PM Modi was keen on setting up the refinery at Nanar, Thackeray claimed that the project would adversely affect the environment of the entire Ratnagiri district, besides destroying fishing and the cultivation of mangoes, jackfruit and paddy in the area.