Desai has sought Nanar refinery land denotification: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said that Industries Minister Subhash Desai had submitted a letter seeking denotification of the land earmarked for a refinery complex in Nanar in Ratnagiri district, over 350 kilometres from here.

Fadnavis, talking to reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting, said that Desai, and other Shiv Sena ministers in the state government, had met him and demanded that the land earmarked for the refinery be denotified.

"I have told them that a decision on this will be taken after considering the interests of the state and Konkan region as well as after taking into confidence the residents there," Fadnavis told reporters.

Desai said today that his department had started the process of getting the land denotified.

"A minister is authorised to cancel a notification. I have given a letter to this effect to the department's secretary who in turn will prepare a proposal regarding the cancellation of the land acquisition notification," Desai said.

He added that the project was being opposed by local residents.

Yesterday, hours after Desai had announced at a public gathering in Nanar that the notification to acquire land for the refinery project had been cancelled, Fadnavis contradicted him and said that the announcement was Desai's "personal opinion".

The chief minister yesterday said that the land acquisition notice could be cancelled only by a high-powered committee led by the state chief secretary.

Fadnavis emphasised, while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event yesterday, that the notification had not been cancelled.