REFINERY AT RATNAGIRI, MAHARASHTRA
Friends, those of you who are from Maharashtra must have come across news about the controversy, which is presently happening for the refinery at Dist Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. Now let us go through the brief history of this project.
The project was originally proposed in 2015, when the BJP-Shiv Sena government was in power, and was meant to be a 60-million ton green oil refinery, the largest in Asia. As per the Times of India, Mumbai newspaper report of 31st March 2022-it was to be located in Nanar village in Ratnagiri, which is part of the Konkan belt and Shiv Sena’s bastion. Locals opposed the project citing loss from agriculture and fishing as lands were to be acquired, and fear of environmental damage. The project required 14,000 acres of land over 17 villages. Shiv Sena backed locals even as BJP continued to support the project. In 2019, the BJP-Shiv Sena government stayed the project. This was one of the pre-conditions to a pre-poll alliance between these two parties.
After the Shiv Sena-led MVA government took rein of power in Maharashtra, in January 2022, then CM Uddhav Thackeray showed a willingness to revive this refinery project and wrote to the Centre asking the project to be shifted to Barsu village-located just 15 km from Nanar village. Then CM wrote to PM suggesting that 13,000 acres in the Barsu village could be made available for the oil refinery and another 2,144 acres in Nate village for a crude oil terminal. The letter said that the land in Barsu village was ideal because it was mostly barren and did not have settlements that would need to be shifted. Also, it was free of hindrances and would not cause environmental damage. The suggestion that the oil refinery be shifted there came from Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemical Company Ltd (RRPCL), which is doing the project, this is a joint venture between Indian investors like Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum, and the Saudi-owned Aramco. Further, it was suggested that the project could be downscaled from 60 million tons to 20-40 million tons, therefore the project will require only around 9000 acres of land.
The Centre at that time communicated that it will look into possibility of finalizing Barsu as location of Refinery, and will send a technical team to examine the feasibility of the location.
Coming back to present times
Barsu and nearby villages in Ratnagiri district on 25th April (Tuesday) witnessed stringent police action against local protestors opposing a soil survey for oil refinery project. The protestors were lying down on the roads in order to stop the entry of vehicles carrying survey equipments into the village.
The conflict between locals and the government has snowballed into a political controversy, with the opposition MVA supporting the protests and demanding that the survey be stopped immediately. The present Maharashtra government retaliated through deputy CM and Industries Minister, pointing out that Uddhav Thackeray himself had suggested the this site to the Centre during his tenure as CM, when protests against the original site at Nanar erupted few a few years ago. The Congress part and NCP have come out in support of Shiv Sena- UBT group in this protest, without realizing that it was Uddhav Thackeray who had suggested this site for this refinery project. NCP chief Sharad Pawar met the present Industry Minister of Maharashtra, and requested him to start the dialogue with protestors to sort out this issue. He further added “ If any development project comes to Ratnagiri (Konkan belt), and is helpful for people there we welcome it.”
As per present CM of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde “ Barsu is a green refinery, and there is an assurance that there will not be any pollution. Then CM Thackeray had written letter to PM, asking him to set up the refinery in the region so that area gets developed, locals get employment as investment of thousands of crores of Rs comes there.”
As the controversy is blowing, the ex CM Uddhav Thackeray has not uttered a single word, but his son Aditya Thackeray is in the forefront of the protest against Barsu refinery. Now people of Maharashtra have right to know why Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena-UBT group is opposing the site of this refinery, after it was proposed by the ex CM Uddhav Thackeray only.
To me it looks like the MVA is opposing only for the sake of opposing to score some brownie points, and the each constituent of MVA is playing the game of one up man ship among themselves to get some benefits in future elections. I will not be surprised that this matter may land in the Supreme Court, on some pretext or the other, and the result of which will be the long delay of this project.
Waiting for your views on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
27th April 2023