Sena leaders flay Maha CM for remarks on Nanar refinery project

New Delhi, Dec 20: Union Heavy Industries Minister and senior Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete on Wednesday lashed out at the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for dragging his name into the matters pertaining to Nanar refinery project in Ratnagiri district and said his party will oppose the project tooth and nail.

"We are opposed to the project because local people are opposing it. The project would require acquisition of 15,000 acres of land and would affect inhabitants of 14 villages. The people will have to be displaced. This is not acceptable to Shiv Sena," Mr Geete told reporters here.
He said the very proposal for the project is on erroneous ground as the land there is "immensely fertile for mango farm".
Referring to a report in a section of media that quoted Chief Minister Mr Fadnavis of saying that the Sena leaders Mr Geete and MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Vinayak Raut had requested for the project, the Union Minister said, "the statement from Chief Minister is surprising and is wrong".
Both Mr Geete and Mr Raut maintained that they have never submitted any memorandum on the issue either to state government or to the centre.
"I am challenging the Chief Minister to provide us evidence as he is claiming. We never made request to him or to anyone else for the Nanar refinery project," Mr Raut said, adding that he has also written to letter to the Chief Minister on the issue.
Answering a question, Mr Geete said it will not be proper to suggest that citing its opposition to the Rs 1 lakh crore project, the Sena would walk out of the alliance with BJP. "We have been opposing this project right from the beginning," he said.
Mr Raut also maintained that during the time of the then chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar it was suggested that such a refinery would be uncalled for as it would have come only five km away from Jaitapur nuclear project.
"It is not a refinery they want to setup. It is like preparing a funeral ground. It is an open invitation to deaths," Mr Raut said raising environmental and pollution related concerns.
"If the project is so goo, it may be transferred to Gujarat," he remarked.
Reports from the state said, the BJP-Sena government has declared this zone of 14,000 acres as an industrial area and has started the land acquisition process through its industrial body, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). UNI