A day after withdrawing criminal cases against people who protested the Metro car shed in Aarey Colony, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday gave orders to withdraw all cases registered against people who protested the Nanar oil refinery project in Ratnagiri.
Thackeray’s decision came after Omkar Prabhudesai, sarpanch of the Nanar group gram panchayat, wrote a letter to him requesting to withdraw a case registered on January 14, 2018, against 23 people who had protested the project.
“Yesterday, Uddhavji issued orders to withdraw cases registered against Aarey protesters. Since he has stood with us on the issue, I request him to withdraw cases against the protesters,” Prabhudesai said.
The Sena had objected to the project on the grounds that it will have an adverse environmental impact on the entire Konkan region and forced the Devendra Fadnavis-led government to shelve the project as a condition of the Sena-BJP alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“We have always stood with the people during the protest and some cases have also been registered against Sena leaders. The decision has come as a great relief,” said Vinayak Raut, Shiv Sena MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency.
The Centre and the state government had approved the proposal to build the refinery in December 2015. It was estimated to bring investments worth Rs 3 lakh crore and generate one lakh jobs.
On Sunday, Thackeray also gave orders to withdraw all the cases against environmentalists who had protested the felling of trees in Aarey Colony.