Take refinery to Gujarat, bring good projects from there to Maha: Uddhav

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said the proposed oil refinery in Barsu in coastal Ratnagiri district should be moved to Gujarat and good investment projects from the neighbouring state be brought to Maharashtra.

Interacting with villagers at Barsu, Thackeray said the government should hold a dialogue with locals before coming up with any project. A section of locals is opposing the refinery on the grounds that it will adversely affect the fragile biodiversity of the coastal Konkan region and also hit their livelihood.

The Vedanta-Foxconn and Tata-Airbus are gone. Take this project to Gujarat and get good projects back to Maharashtra, Thackeray said.

Thackeray said when he was the chief minister, similar protests had taken place while building the Samruddhi highway.

But we struck a dialogue with protesters. We worked out a way without hampering development, Thackeray said.

Earlier, Thackeray had planned to hold a rally in Barsu-Solgaon area earlier but was denied permission.

Supporters of the refinery project have also organised a rally in the vicinity at the same time, officials have said.