BJP leader seeks payout for Nanar project before scrapping it

Former BJP legislator Pramod Jathar Friday asked the Maharashtra government to declare a compensation for project-affected people (PAPs) before scrapping the ambitious Nanar refinery project altogether in the Konkan region of the state.

Addressing reporters here, Jathar said hefty compensations, much more than the market value of land, were announced way ahead of acquiring land for projects like Mumbai -Nagpur super expressway, Jaitapur nuclear power plant and Mumbai-Goa highway expansion.

"Why has the same yardstick not been applied for this project (Nanar refinery) as well which is worth Rs 3 lakh crore and will provide employment to around 1.5 lakh people directly or indirectly?" he asked.

"I urge the Chief Minister (Devendra Fadnavis) and (Shiv Sena president) Uddhav Thackeray not to scrap the project for an alliance and deny jobs to locals.

"If people are not in favour of the project, we will stop all demands in its support," Jathar said.

The former BJP MLA demanded that the government declare a compensation, in line with the one announced for other big ticket projects, and let people decide if they want the project to go ahead or not.

Jathar claimed such projects have not proved to be harmful to the environment and are running smoothly in other parts of the country.

He said no private entity is involved in the project and all companies associated with it are government owned thus, there is no chance of a malafide agenda by anybody.

Asked if he was pushing for the project to help investors who had bought lands at cheap rates from the locals after the project was announced, Jathar said he would be happy if all such transactions, completed in the last two years, are annulled by the government.

"I will also be happy if the money reaches the people who owned lands before it was bought after the project was announced.

"However, development of Konkan should not be stopped. Else, we will be forced to put up pro-refinery candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly polls to test the public support for the project," Jathar said.

Fadnavis, speaking a joint press meet with Thackeray last week, had said the Shiv Sena's stand of local opposition for the refinery at Nanar in Ratnagiri district has been accepted and it will come up at a place where it is acceptable to people.

Half of Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals (RRPCL), the joint venture executing the project, is owned by Indian oil PSUs -- Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum.

The rest of the ownership is with Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

The Nanar refinery site is near the proposed 10,000 MW Jaitapur nuclear power project being developed jointly with French firm EDF.