'End Nanar matter for good'

Mumbai: Anti-Nanar project protesters have demanded that the Shiv Sena should ensure that the controversial refinery project is scrapped before holding alliance talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the forthcoming Lok Sabha (LS) polls.

The members of Konkan Refinery Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti (KRVSS), an organisation opposed to the refinery, met Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at his residence, Matoshree, on Wednesday. During the meeting, they demanded that the land acquisition ordinance issued by the MIDC for the project should be scrapped before the Sena and BJP initiate alliance talks.

“The process of cancelling the ordinance for land acquisition for Nanar project has already been completed. It is now awaiting the chief minister’s nod. If Sena wants to forge an alliance with the BJP, it should ensure that the ordinance for land acquisition is scrapped before holding talks with the BJP,” said Ashok Walam, who heads the KRVSS.

“The Sena chief was positive as to our demand. He has assured us that the ordinance would be scrapped soon. He has promised to meet the CM in a couple of days on this issue,” he added.

We are keeping a close watch on the happenings. If the Sena backs off from its promise, the organisation will announce its own stand, said Mr Walam.

In the Winter Session of the state legislature last year, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had stated that the state government had stayed the land acquisition process for the proposed refinery project. He had said that the decision to stay the land acquisition was taken after consulting the Sena chief.

Shiv Sena, which has a stronghold in the Konkan region, has been opposing the project vehemently, saying that it is against the interests of farmers and would destroy the ecology in Ratnagiri district.