Maha CM cornered as Centre pushes for Ratnagiri refinery

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, April 14

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been overruled by the Central Government which is pushing for the West Coast refinery in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district.

The Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPL) promoted by the Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation will have Saudi Aramco as its main shareholder apart from other investors on board.

The project, which is to be located near the Jaitapur nuclear power plant, has drawn the opposition of local farmers who fear that environmental changes caused by these projects will affect the production of the famous Alphonso mangoes from the region.

Various organisations representing the farmers and fisherfolk in the region have managed to obtain the support of political parties like the Shiv Sena, Congress and even the Nationalist Congress Party.

While Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has come out openly against the project, NCP chief Sharad Pawar in a public statement said he would be visiting the project-affected villages next month to obtain first-hand information on its impact. After sustained opposition towards the project, the Fadnavis

government earlier this year decided not to sign the agreement with Saudi Aramco during the Magnetic Maharashtra investors’ summit earlier this year. The Chief Minister had then told the reporters that the government was still trying to convince the villagers to part with their land for the project.

However, earlier this month, the Central Government announced that the consortium of public sector oil companies would be setting up the mega refinery in cooperation with the Saudi oil major.

Thackeray openly accused Fadnavis of cheating him since the latter had promised him that the project would be put on the backburner. However, sources say Fadnavis is helpless as the party leadership in New Delhi is keen on the project due to the investment promised by Saudi Arabia.

However with elections to the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly next year, Fadnavis is facing flak from his own party colleagues as well.

Former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha on the BJP ticket, too warned the state government against forcefully acquiring land for the project.