CM: Oil MoU misread, Konkan promise stays

Mumbai: A day after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray hit out at chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over the Nanar refinery project in the Konkan, Fadnavis reiterated on Thursday that the oil processing plant would come up only after the locals are taken into confidence.
Fadnavis said on the sidelines of his visit to Indu Mill in Dadar that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) that was signed by the Centre, a move which raised Thackeray’s hackles, was for refineries along the west coast and not specifically about Nanar in Ratnagiri.
A press release on Wednesday said that a consortium comprising Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp, along with Saudi Aramco, had signed an refinery development MoU.
“The MoU does not mention Nanar,” the chief minister said. “I will speak to Uddhav Thackeray about the project.”
He said the state and the Centre both wanted the state to get the largest refinery in the world. He said a refinery set up in Chembur 50 years ago had not led to any pollution there.