Oil refinery will destroy beauty of Konkan: Sena MLA

An MLA of the ruling coalition partner Shiv Sena today attacked the BJP-led Maharashtra government over a proposed oil refinery in Ratnagiri, saying it would "destroy the beauty" of the coastal Konkan region.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, Sena's Rajan Salvi sought to know the state Industry Department's stand on local people's demand that the project be scrapped.
Industry department is headed by Sena's Subhash Desai.
Salvi and other Sena MLAs had protested against the project earlier too, supporting the villagers of Nanar in Ratnagiri district in their opposition.
"This project is going to destroy the beauty of Konkan region. People unitedly protested against the Jaitapur Nuclear power project and the work at that project is stalled. Now the government wants a refinery exactly in the neighbourhood of the nuclear power project," said Salvi.

Speaking to reporters earlier this week, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had claimed that Shiv Sena MPs too wanted the project in the region.

However, yesterday, Vinayak Raut, the Sena MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, made public a letter written by him to Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, requesting the Centre to shift the project out of Konkan.
Sena leader and state environment minister Ramdas Kadam, who belongs to the same region, has opposed the project.
Fadnavis had said that opposition to the project was the handiwork of some "commercial NGOs", and claimed that the refinery will generate one lakh jobs for local people.